{"id":41,"date":"2012-03-19T01:26:25","date_gmt":"2012-03-19T01:26:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sheeri.com\/crafty\/?p=41"},"modified":"2012-03-19T01:26:25","modified_gmt":"2012-03-19T01:26:25","slug":"in-my-fiber-world-sun-mar-18th-version","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sheeri.com\/crafty\/?p=41","title":{"rendered":"In My Fiber World, Sun Mar 18th Version"},"content":{"rendered":"

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nSo, . 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nSo, . 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nSo, . 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nThis month’s Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/a> Batt Club offering is a Shetland\/silk blend called “Conversation Hearts”. Now, case<\/a> I have only been spinning a year, illness<\/a> but Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. I spun some last year that was 100% Shetland, diet<\/a> and the sparkly batt using a base of Shetland and silk is just as dreamy as I’d thought it would be.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’ve spun up about half of it. The colors are very bold, and I think this is destined to become a Citron<\/a>…what do you think?<\/p>\n

Here’s the rest of the batt – I get it with super duper extra sparkles:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And here’s what I’ve spun up so far:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nSo, . 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nSo, . 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nThis month’s Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/a> Batt Club offering is a Shetland\/silk blend called “Conversation Hearts”. Now, case<\/a> I have only been spinning a year, illness<\/a> but Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. I spun some last year that was 100% Shetland, diet<\/a> and the sparkly batt using a base of Shetland and silk is just as dreamy as I’d thought it would be.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’ve spun up about half of it. The colors are very bold, and I think this is destined to become a Citron<\/a>…what do you think?<\/p>\n

Here’s the rest of the batt – I get it with super duper extra sparkles:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And here’s what I’ve spun up so far:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nSo, . 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nThis month’s Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/a> Batt Club offering is a Shetland\/silk blend called “Conversation Hearts”. Now, case<\/a> I have only been spinning a year, illness<\/a> but Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. I spun some last year that was 100% Shetland, diet<\/a> and the sparkly batt using a base of Shetland and silk is just as dreamy as I’d thought it would be.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’ve spun up about half of it. The colors are very bold, and I think this is destined to become a Citron<\/a>…what do you think?<\/p>\n

Here’s the rest of the batt – I get it with super duper extra sparkles:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And here’s what I’ve spun up so far:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This month’s but Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. I spun some last year that was 100% Shetland, and the sparkly batt using a base of Shetland and silk is just as dreamy as I’d thought it would be.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’ve spun up about half of it. The colors are very bold, and I think this is destined to become a Citron<\/a>…what do you think?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nSo, . 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nSo, . 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nThis month’s Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/a> Batt Club offering is a Shetland\/silk blend called “Conversation Hearts”. Now, case<\/a> I have only been spinning a year, illness<\/a> but Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. I spun some last year that was 100% Shetland, diet<\/a> and the sparkly batt using a base of Shetland and silk is just as dreamy as I’d thought it would be.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’ve spun up about half of it. The colors are very bold, and I think this is destined to become a Citron<\/a>…what do you think?<\/p>\n

Here’s the rest of the batt – I get it with super duper extra sparkles:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And here’s what I’ve spun up so far:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nSo, . 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nThis month’s Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/a> Batt Club offering is a Shetland\/silk blend called “Conversation Hearts”. Now, case<\/a> I have only been spinning a year, illness<\/a> but Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. I spun some last year that was 100% Shetland, diet<\/a> and the sparkly batt using a base of Shetland and silk is just as dreamy as I’d thought it would be.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’ve spun up about half of it. The colors are very bold, and I think this is destined to become a Citron<\/a>…what do you think?<\/p>\n

Here’s the rest of the batt – I get it with super duper extra sparkles:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And here’s what I’ve spun up so far:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This month’s but Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. I spun some last year that was 100% Shetland, and the sparkly batt using a base of Shetland and silk is just as dreamy as I’d thought it would be.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’ve spun up about half of it. The colors are very bold, and I think this is destined to become a Citron<\/a>…what do you think?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nSo, . 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nSo, . 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nThis month’s Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/a> Batt Club offering is a Shetland\/silk blend called “Conversation Hearts”. Now, case<\/a> I have only been spinning a year, illness<\/a> but Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. I spun some last year that was 100% Shetland, diet<\/a> and the sparkly batt using a base of Shetland and silk is just as dreamy as I’d thought it would be.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’ve spun up about half of it. The colors are very bold, and I think this is destined to become a Citron<\/a>…what do you think?<\/p>\n

Here’s the rest of the batt – I get it with super duper extra sparkles:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And here’s what I’ve spun up so far:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nSo, . 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nThis month’s Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/a> Batt Club offering is a Shetland\/silk blend called “Conversation Hearts”. Now, case<\/a> I have only been spinning a year, illness<\/a> but Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. I spun some last year that was 100% Shetland, diet<\/a> and the sparkly batt using a base of Shetland and silk is just as dreamy as I’d thought it would be.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’ve spun up about half of it. The colors are very bold, and I think this is destined to become a Citron<\/a>…what do you think?<\/p>\n

Here’s the rest of the batt – I get it with super duper extra sparkles:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And here’s what I’ve spun up so far:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This month’s but Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. I spun some last year that was 100% Shetland, and the sparkly batt using a base of Shetland and silk is just as dreamy as I’d thought it would be.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’ve spun up about half of it. The colors are very bold, and I think this is destined to become a Citron<\/a>…what do you think?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, population health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, side effects<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nSo, . 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nSo, . 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nThis month’s Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/a> Batt Club offering is a Shetland\/silk blend called “Conversation Hearts”. Now, case<\/a> I have only been spinning a year, illness<\/a> but Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. I spun some last year that was 100% Shetland, diet<\/a> and the sparkly batt using a base of Shetland and silk is just as dreamy as I’d thought it would be.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’ve spun up about half of it. The colors are very bold, and I think this is destined to become a Citron<\/a>…what do you think?<\/p>\n

Here’s the rest of the batt – I get it with super duper extra sparkles:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And here’s what I’ve spun up so far:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nSo, . 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nThis month’s Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/a> Batt Club offering is a Shetland\/silk blend called “Conversation Hearts”. Now, case<\/a> I have only been spinning a year, illness<\/a> but Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. I spun some last year that was 100% Shetland, diet<\/a> and the sparkly batt using a base of Shetland and silk is just as dreamy as I’d thought it would be.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’ve spun up about half of it. The colors are very bold, and I think this is destined to become a Citron<\/a>…what do you think?<\/p>\n

Here’s the rest of the batt – I get it with super duper extra sparkles:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And here’s what I’ve spun up so far:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This month’s but Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. I spun some last year that was 100% Shetland, and the sparkly batt using a base of Shetland and silk is just as dreamy as I’d thought it would be.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’ve spun up about half of it. The colors are very bold, and I think this is destined to become a Citron<\/a>…what do you think?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, population health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, side effects<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, population health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, side effects<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nSo, . 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nSo, . 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nThis month’s Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/a> Batt Club offering is a Shetland\/silk blend called “Conversation Hearts”. Now, case<\/a> I have only been spinning a year, illness<\/a> but Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. I spun some last year that was 100% Shetland, diet<\/a> and the sparkly batt using a base of Shetland and silk is just as dreamy as I’d thought it would be.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’ve spun up about half of it. The colors are very bold, and I think this is destined to become a Citron<\/a>…what do you think?<\/p>\n

Here’s the rest of the batt – I get it with super duper extra sparkles:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And here’s what I’ve spun up so far:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nSo, . 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nThis month’s Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/a> Batt Club offering is a Shetland\/silk blend called “Conversation Hearts”. Now, case<\/a> I have only been spinning a year, illness<\/a> but Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. I spun some last year that was 100% Shetland, diet<\/a> and the sparkly batt using a base of Shetland and silk is just as dreamy as I’d thought it would be.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’ve spun up about half of it. The colors are very bold, and I think this is destined to become a Citron<\/a>…what do you think?<\/p>\n

Here’s the rest of the batt – I get it with super duper extra sparkles:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And here’s what I’ve spun up so far:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This month’s but Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. I spun some last year that was 100% Shetland, and the sparkly batt using a base of Shetland and silk is just as dreamy as I’d thought it would be.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’ve spun up about half of it. The colors are very bold, and I think this is destined to become a Citron<\/a>…what do you think?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, population health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, side effects<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, population health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, side effects<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, population health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, side effects<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, youth health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nSo, . 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nSo, . 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nThis month’s Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/a> Batt Club offering is a Shetland\/silk blend called “Conversation Hearts”. Now, case<\/a> I have only been spinning a year, illness<\/a> but Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. I spun some last year that was 100% Shetland, diet<\/a> and the sparkly batt using a base of Shetland and silk is just as dreamy as I’d thought it would be.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’ve spun up about half of it. The colors are very bold, and I think this is destined to become a Citron<\/a>…what do you think?<\/p>\n

Here’s the rest of the batt – I get it with super duper extra sparkles:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And here’s what I’ve spun up so far:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nSo, . 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nThis month’s Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/a> Batt Club offering is a Shetland\/silk blend called “Conversation Hearts”. Now, case<\/a> I have only been spinning a year, illness<\/a> but Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. I spun some last year that was 100% Shetland, diet<\/a> and the sparkly batt using a base of Shetland and silk is just as dreamy as I’d thought it would be.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’ve spun up about half of it. The colors are very bold, and I think this is destined to become a Citron<\/a>…what do you think?<\/p>\n

Here’s the rest of the batt – I get it with super duper extra sparkles:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And here’s what I’ve spun up so far:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This month’s but Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. I spun some last year that was 100% Shetland, and the sparkly batt using a base of Shetland and silk is just as dreamy as I’d thought it would be.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’ve spun up about half of it. The colors are very bold, and I think this is destined to become a Citron<\/a>…what do you think?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, population health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, side effects<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, population health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, side effects<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, population health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, side effects<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, youth health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, population health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, side effects<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, youth health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Edited October 29, site<\/a> 2012 – Unfortunately, Cat Bordhi has asked me to take the PDF instructions down. However, the same exact information is at the video I link to below, so you can still find the information you need.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought Cat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable. [Sadly, I have now had to take this information down]<\/strong><\/p>\n

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nSo, . 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nSo, . 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nThis month’s Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/a> Batt Club offering is a Shetland\/silk blend called “Conversation Hearts”. Now, case<\/a> I have only been spinning a year, illness<\/a> but Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. I spun some last year that was 100% Shetland, diet<\/a> and the sparkly batt using a base of Shetland and silk is just as dreamy as I’d thought it would be.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’ve spun up about half of it. The colors are very bold, and I think this is destined to become a Citron<\/a>…what do you think?<\/p>\n

Here’s the rest of the batt – I get it with super duper extra sparkles:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And here’s what I’ve spun up so far:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nSo, . 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nThis month’s Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/a> Batt Club offering is a Shetland\/silk blend called “Conversation Hearts”. Now, case<\/a> I have only been spinning a year, illness<\/a> but Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. I spun some last year that was 100% Shetland, diet<\/a> and the sparkly batt using a base of Shetland and silk is just as dreamy as I’d thought it would be.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’ve spun up about half of it. The colors are very bold, and I think this is destined to become a Citron<\/a>…what do you think?<\/p>\n

Here’s the rest of the batt – I get it with super duper extra sparkles:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And here’s what I’ve spun up so far:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This month’s but Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. I spun some last year that was 100% Shetland, and the sparkly batt using a base of Shetland and silk is just as dreamy as I’d thought it would be.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’ve spun up about half of it. The colors are very bold, and I think this is destined to become a Citron<\/a>…what do you think?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, population health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, side effects<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, population health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, side effects<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, population health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, side effects<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, youth health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, population health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, side effects<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, youth health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Edited October 29, site<\/a> 2012 – Unfortunately, Cat Bordhi has asked me to take the PDF instructions down. However, the same exact information is at the video I link to below, so you can still find the information you need.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought Cat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable. [Sadly, I have now had to take this information down]<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, population health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, side effects<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, youth health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Edited October 29, site<\/a> 2012 – Unfortunately, Cat Bordhi has asked me to take the PDF instructions down. However, the same exact information is at the video I link to below, so you can still find the information you need.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought Cat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable. [Sadly, I have now had to take this information down]<\/strong><\/p>\n

I taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, resuscitation<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, cheapest<\/a> and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

PDF download<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nSo, . 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nSo, . 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nThis month’s Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/a> Batt Club offering is a Shetland\/silk blend called “Conversation Hearts”. Now, case<\/a> I have only been spinning a year, illness<\/a> but Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. I spun some last year that was 100% Shetland, diet<\/a> and the sparkly batt using a base of Shetland and silk is just as dreamy as I’d thought it would be.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’ve spun up about half of it. The colors are very bold, and I think this is destined to become a Citron<\/a>…what do you think?<\/p>\n

Here’s the rest of the batt – I get it with super duper extra sparkles:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And here’s what I’ve spun up so far:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nSo, . 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nThis month’s Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/a> Batt Club offering is a Shetland\/silk blend called “Conversation Hearts”. Now, case<\/a> I have only been spinning a year, illness<\/a> but Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. I spun some last year that was 100% Shetland, diet<\/a> and the sparkly batt using a base of Shetland and silk is just as dreamy as I’d thought it would be.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’ve spun up about half of it. The colors are very bold, and I think this is destined to become a Citron<\/a>…what do you think?<\/p>\n

Here’s the rest of the batt – I get it with super duper extra sparkles:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And here’s what I’ve spun up so far:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This month’s but Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. I spun some last year that was 100% Shetland, and the sparkly batt using a base of Shetland and silk is just as dreamy as I’d thought it would be.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’ve spun up about half of it. The colors are very bold, and I think this is destined to become a Citron<\/a>…what do you think?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, population health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, side effects<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, population health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, side effects<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, population health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, side effects<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, youth health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, population health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, side effects<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, youth health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Edited October 29, site<\/a> 2012 – Unfortunately, Cat Bordhi has asked me to take the PDF instructions down. However, the same exact information is at the video I link to below, so you can still find the information you need.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought Cat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable. [Sadly, I have now had to take this information down]<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, population health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, side effects<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, youth health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Edited October 29, site<\/a> 2012 – Unfortunately, Cat Bordhi has asked me to take the PDF instructions down. However, the same exact information is at the video I link to below, so you can still find the information you need.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought Cat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable. [Sadly, I have now had to take this information down]<\/strong><\/p>\n

I taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, resuscitation<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, cheapest<\/a> and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

PDF download<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, population health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, side effects<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, youth health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Edited October 29, site<\/a> 2012 – Unfortunately, Cat Bordhi has asked me to take the PDF instructions down. However, the same exact information is at the video I link to below, so you can still find the information you need.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought Cat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable. [Sadly, I have now had to take this information down]<\/strong><\/p>\n

I taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, resuscitation<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, cheapest<\/a> and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

PDF download<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nI posted about a week ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>. What is new is that I went to Fiber Camp<\/A>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nSo, . 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nIn hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nSo, . 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nThis month’s Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/a> Batt Club offering is a Shetland\/silk blend called “Conversation Hearts”. Now, case<\/a> I have only been spinning a year, illness<\/a> but Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. I spun some last year that was 100% Shetland, diet<\/a> and the sparkly batt using a base of Shetland and silk is just as dreamy as I’d thought it would be.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’ve spun up about half of it. The colors are very bold, and I think this is destined to become a Citron<\/a>…what do you think?<\/p>\n

Here’s the rest of the batt – I get it with super duper extra sparkles:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And here’s what I’ve spun up so far:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place.<\/em>
\nGary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058<\/a>
\nAs a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, surgeon<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, viagra order<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, this site<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

As a first post, traumatologist<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, website<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm<\/A> contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick<\/A> or Willa<\/A>. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color\/one-skein and two-color\/two-skein version:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top<\/A>, 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.<\/p>\n

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!
\nWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, decease<\/a> then start blogging!
\nAs a first post, ampoule<\/a> I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, ailment<\/a> if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

I will start with completed projects, viagra<\/a> since that’s always the most satisfying, right?<\/p>\n

I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s<\/a> “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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was going to make a Citron<\/a> shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now.<\/p>\n

On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

I have also been working on Monkey Socks<\/a> – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda<\/a> 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<\/a> from the ingenious Cat Bordhi<\/a>. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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!<\/p>\n

I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a>. The hat is Bratach<\/a> from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork.<\/a> 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<\/a> looks like right now:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel<\/a> out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic<\/a> 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<\/A> and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt Club\u2019s Dec 2011 offering, \u201cWinter\u2019s Night Sky\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo, prothesis<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!
\nSo, order<\/a> I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock<\/a>, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nSo, . 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:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp<\/a> in less than 2 weeks!<\/a>
\nThis month’s Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/a> Batt Club offering is a Shetland\/silk blend called “Conversation Hearts”. Now, case<\/a> I have only been spinning a year, illness<\/a> but Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. I spun some last year that was 100% Shetland, diet<\/a> and the sparkly batt using a base of Shetland and silk is just as dreamy as I’d thought it would be.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’ve spun up about half of it. The colors are very bold, and I think this is destined to become a Citron<\/a>…what do you think?<\/p>\n

Here’s the rest of the batt – I get it with super duper extra sparkles:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And here’s what I’ve spun up so far:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This month’s but Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. I spun some last year that was 100% Shetland, and the sparkly batt using a base of Shetland and silk is just as dreamy as I’d thought it would be.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’ve spun up about half of it. The colors are very bold, and I think this is destined to become a Citron<\/a>…what do you think?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, population health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, side effects<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, population health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, side effects<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, population health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, side effects<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, youth health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, population health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, side effects<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, youth health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Edited October 29, site<\/a> 2012 – Unfortunately, Cat Bordhi has asked me to take the PDF instructions down. However, the same exact information is at the video I link to below, so you can still find the information you need.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought Cat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable. [Sadly, I have now had to take this information down]<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, population health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, side effects<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, youth health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Edited October 29, site<\/a> 2012 – Unfortunately, Cat Bordhi has asked me to take the PDF instructions down. However, the same exact information is at the video I link to below, so you can still find the information you need.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought Cat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable. [Sadly, I have now had to take this information down]<\/strong><\/p>\n

I taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, resuscitation<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, cheapest<\/a> and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

PDF download<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, population health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, side effects<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, youth health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Edited October 29, site<\/a> 2012 – Unfortunately, Cat Bordhi has asked me to take the PDF instructions down. However, the same exact information is at the video I link to below, so you can still find the information you need.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought Cat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable. [Sadly, I have now had to take this information down]<\/strong><\/p>\n

I taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, resuscitation<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, cheapest<\/a> and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

PDF download<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nI posted about a week ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>. What is new is that I went to Fiber Camp<\/A>
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, illness<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make
\nI am on a work trip to California this week, population health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, side effects<\/a> I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I am on a work trip to California this week, youth health<\/a> so yesterday I had some nice long stretches of time in which to knit.<\/p>\n

I FINALLY finished the Sagrantino Shawl<\/a>, I finished it before I went on any flights and weaved in all the ends from my Boston->New York City flight (45 minutes). It is currently being blocked in my hotel room – I had to jury rig a setup, because at home I just use regular straight pins on a foam blocking board. The setup is blocking the top half now, I’ll have to block the bottom half separately after this is dry:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

I also finished the Monkey sock<\/a>, with a Sweet Tomato Heel<\/a>. This was also finished before my flights.<\/p>\n

I managed to write and print up my instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel sock that I’m going to teach at FiberCamp<\/A> this weekend, so I am all ready, and I’ll post those instructions here later in the week, as a blog post and an accompanying PDF.<\/p>\n

In my first checkin<\/A> post I neglected to mention a scarf I’m making for my husband, Tony. It is being made from a handspun I made, a 2-ply of Louet Black Diamond<\/A> (carbonized bamboo) and what was labeled 100% wool (seems like merino) from the Lancaster Yarn Shop<\/A>. Tony went on a trip and brought me back 3 bumps of 1.2 oz each – 2 bumps were blue and one was purple, and it combined really well with the Black Diamond:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Tony asked me to make him a scarf, and I thought the black\/purple combination would work well, so given the yarn stats I looked for a pattern on Ravelry<\/A>, and told Tony to choose a pattern. Well, he chose Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>, and lately he’s been asking me when it’s going to be finished. Before yesterday’s flight it had only a few inches. I am happy to say it is over 12 inches long now, after a good 6-hour flight yesterday:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Last week I did do some spinning, because I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much spinning this week while I’m away – I have brought my spindles and my wheel in the past, but there are evening fun activities for the team so I decided I wasn’t going to bring all that stuff, I could just bring my knitting so I’d always have something to do. That being said, I put up 2 new skeins.<\/p>\n

The first skein is the Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt for February 2012, the colorway is called “Conversation Hearts”. It’s a Shetland\/silk blend, and Shetland is one of my favorite fibers to spin. This spin did not disappoint me:<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

The second skein is also an Enchanted Knoll Farm<\/A> Happy Hooves Batt, from November 2011, called “Crunchy Leaves”. It was sent as a boucle kit, and I put it aside for when I was ready to actually spin a boucle yarn. Well, a different rav group put out a boucle challenge, so I decided to give it a go. I’m not a fan of boucle yarns, and I also am very methodical and don’t generally like chaotic yarns, so I made a somewhat tame boucle – I think I did a good job for my first time out, but I know how I would spin things differently now to make it more boucle-y.<\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

<\/A><\/p>\n

Edited October 29, site<\/a> 2012 – Unfortunately, Cat Bordhi has asked me to take the PDF instructions down. However, the same exact information is at the video I link to below, so you can still find the information you need.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought Cat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable. [Sadly, I have now had to take this information down]<\/strong><\/p>\n

I taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, resuscitation<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, cheapest<\/a> and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

PDF download<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nI posted about a week ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>. What is new is that I went to Fiber Camp<\/A>
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, plague<\/a> 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, it works on a 6-stitch repeat with 1 stitch on either side (so multiples of 6, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, it works on a 6-stitch repeat with 1 stitch on either side (so multiples of 6, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, it works on a 6-stitch repeat with 1 stitch on either side (so multiples of 6, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, more about<\/a> I made both the single and 2-color version in a few hours on a Saturday afternoon. It is also very warm and soft. You could easily adapt this pattern to be wider, it works on a 6-stitch repeat with 1 stitch on either side (so multiples of 6, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, it works on a 6-stitch repeat with 1 stitch on either side (so multiples of 6, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, it works on a 6-stitch repeat with 1 stitch on either side (so multiples of 6, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, more about<\/a> I made both the single and 2-color version in a few hours on a Saturday afternoon. It is also very warm and soft. You could easily adapt this pattern to be wider, it works on a 6-stitch repeat with 1 stitch on either side (so multiples of 6, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, it works on a 6-stitch repeat with 1 stitch on either side (so multiples of 6, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, more about<\/a> I made both the single and 2-color version in a few hours on a Saturday afternoon. It is also very warm and soft. You could easily adapt this pattern to be wider, it works on a 6-stitch repeat with 1 stitch on either side (so multiples of 6, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, heart<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, prescription<\/a> 2 balls Chadwick)<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, recipe<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, it works on a 6-stitch repeat with 1 stitch on either side (so multiples of 6, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, it works on a 6-stitch repeat with 1 stitch on either side (so multiples of 6, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, more about<\/a> I made both the single and 2-color version in a few hours on a Saturday afternoon. It is also very warm and soft. You could easily adapt this pattern to be wider, it works on a 6-stitch repeat with 1 stitch on either side (so multiples of 6, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, it works on a 6-stitch repeat with 1 stitch on either side (so multiples of 6, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, more about<\/a> I made both the single and 2-color version in a few hours on a Saturday afternoon. It is also very warm and soft. You could easily adapt this pattern to be wider, it works on a 6-stitch repeat with 1 stitch on either side (so multiples of 6, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, heart<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, prescription<\/a> 2 balls Chadwick)<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, recipe<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, it works on a 6-stitch repeat with 1 stitch on either side (so multiples of 6, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, more about<\/a> I made both the single and 2-color version in a few hours on a Saturday afternoon. It is also very warm and soft. You could easily adapt this pattern to be wider, it works on a 6-stitch repeat with 1 stitch on either side (so multiples of 6, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, heart<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, prescription<\/a> 2 balls Chadwick)<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, recipe<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, I made both the single and 2-color version in a few hours on a Saturday afternoon. It is also very warm and soft. You could easily adapt this pattern to be wider, it works on a 6-stitch repeat with 1 stitch on either side (so multiples of 6, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fry, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, it works on a 6-stitch repeat with 1 stitch on either side (so multiples of 6, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, it works on a 6-stitch repeat with 1 stitch on either side (so multiples of 6, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, more about<\/a> I made both the single and 2-color version in a few hours on a Saturday afternoon. It is also very warm and soft. You could easily adapt this pattern to be wider, it works on a 6-stitch repeat with 1 stitch on either side (so multiples of 6, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, it works on a 6-stitch repeat with 1 stitch on either side (so multiples of 6, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, more about<\/a> I made both the single and 2-color version in a few hours on a Saturday afternoon. It is also very warm and soft. You could easily adapt this pattern to be wider, it works on a 6-stitch repeat with 1 stitch on either side (so multiples of 6, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, heart<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, prescription<\/a> 2 balls Chadwick)<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, recipe<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, it works on a 6-stitch repeat with 1 stitch on either side (so multiples of 6, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, more about<\/a> I made both the single and 2-color version in a few hours on a Saturday afternoon. It is also very warm and soft. You could easily adapt this pattern to be wider, it works on a 6-stitch repeat with 1 stitch on either side (so multiples of 6, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, heart<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, prescription<\/a> 2 balls Chadwick)<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, recipe<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, I made both the single and 2-color version in a few hours on a Saturday afternoon. It is also very warm and soft. You could easily adapt this pattern to be wider, it works on a 6-stitch repeat with 1 stitch on either side (so multiples of 6, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fry, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, it works on a 6-stitch repeat with 1 stitch on either side (so multiples of 6, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, more about<\/a> I made both the single and 2-color version in a few hours on a Saturday afternoon. It is also very warm and soft. You could easily adapt this pattern to be wider, it works on a 6-stitch repeat with 1 stitch on either side (so multiples of 6, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, heart<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, prescription<\/a> 2 balls Chadwick)<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, recipe<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, I made both the single and 2-color version in a few hours on a Saturday afternoon. It is also very warm and soft. You could easily adapt this pattern to be wider, it works on a 6-stitch repeat with 1 stitch on either side (so multiples of 6, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fry, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, sildenafil<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nLast weekend, sick<\/a> I went to Fiber Camp<\/A>. Fiber Camp is not your usual fiber festival – now in its third year, <\/a> Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-b<\/p>\n

I posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, on the works in project – I have to re-block the Sagrantino Shawl<\/A>, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nLast weekend, sick<\/a> I went to Fiber Camp<\/A>. Fiber Camp is not your usual fiber festival – now in its third year, <\/a> Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-b<\/p>\n

I posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, on the works in project – I have to re-block the Sagrantino Shawl<\/A>, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nLast weekend, sick<\/a> I went to Fiber Camp<\/A>. Fiber Camp is not your usual fiber festival – now in its third year, <\/a> Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-b<\/p>\n

I posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, on the works in project – I have to re-block the Sagrantino Shawl<\/A>, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me when I was down in the dumps by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being, but also has an entry in the JMF design contest<\/A>. You should vote for her!
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nLast weekend, sick<\/a> I went to Fiber Camp<\/A>. Fiber Camp is not your usual fiber festival – now in its third year, <\/a> Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-b<\/p>\n

I posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, on the works in project – I have to re-block the Sagrantino Shawl<\/A>, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nLast weekend, sick<\/a> I went to Fiber Camp<\/A>. Fiber Camp is not your usual fiber festival – now in its third year, <\/a> Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-b<\/p>\n

I posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, on the works in project – I have to re-block the Sagrantino Shawl<\/A>, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me when I was down in the dumps by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being, but also has an entry in the JMF design contest<\/A>. You should vote for her!
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nLast weekend, sick<\/a> I went to Fiber Camp<\/A>. Fiber Camp is not your usual fiber festival – now in its third year, <\/a> Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-b<\/p>\n

I posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, on the works in project – I have to re-block the Sagrantino Shawl<\/A>, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me when I was down in the dumps by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being, but also has an entry in the JMF design contest<\/A>. You should vote for her!
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down sweater<\/p>\n


\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nLast weekend, sick<\/a> I went to Fiber Camp<\/A>. Fiber Camp is not your usual fiber festival – now in its third year, <\/a> Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-b<\/p>\n

I posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, on the works in project – I have to re-block the Sagrantino Shawl<\/A>, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nLast weekend, sick<\/a> I went to Fiber Camp<\/A>. Fiber Camp is not your usual fiber festival – now in its third year, <\/a> Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-b<\/p>\n

I posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, on the works in project – I have to re-block the Sagrantino Shawl<\/A>, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me when I was down in the dumps by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being, but also has an entry in the JMF design contest<\/A>. You should vote for her!
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nLast weekend, sick<\/a> I went to Fiber Camp<\/A>. Fiber Camp is not your usual fiber festival – now in its third year, <\/a> Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-b<\/p>\n

I posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, on the works in project – I have to re-block the Sagrantino Shawl<\/A>, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me when I was down in the dumps by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being, but also has an entry in the JMF design contest<\/A>. You should vote for her!
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down sweater<\/p>\n


\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nLast weekend, sick<\/a> I went to Fiber Camp<\/A>. Fiber Camp is not your usual fiber festival – now in its third year, <\/a> Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-b<\/p>\n

I posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, on the works in project – I have to re-block the Sagrantino Shawl<\/A>, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me when I was down in the dumps by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being, but also has an entry in the JMF design contest<\/A>. You should vote for her!
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down sweater<\/p>\n


\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nLast weekend, sick<\/a> I went to Fiber Camp<\/A>. Fiber Camp is not your usual fiber festival – now in its third year, <\/a> Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-b<\/p>\n

I posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, on the works in project – I have to re-block the Sagrantino Shawl<\/A>, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nLast weekend, sick<\/a> I went to Fiber Camp<\/A>. Fiber Camp is not your usual fiber festival – now in its third year, <\/a> Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-b<\/p>\n

I posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, on the works in project – I have to re-block the Sagrantino Shawl<\/A>, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me when I was down in the dumps by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being, but also has an entry in the JMF design contest<\/A>. You should vote for her!
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nLast weekend, sick<\/a> I went to Fiber Camp<\/A>. Fiber Camp is not your usual fiber festival – now in its third year, <\/a> Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-b<\/p>\n

I posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, on the works in project – I have to re-block the Sagrantino Shawl<\/A>, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me when I was down in the dumps by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being, but also has an entry in the JMF design contest<\/A>. You should vote for her!
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down sweater<\/p>\n


\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nLast weekend, sick<\/a> I went to Fiber Camp<\/A>. Fiber Camp is not your usual fiber festival – now in its third year, <\/a> Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-b<\/p>\n

I posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, on the works in project – I have to re-block the Sagrantino Shawl<\/A>, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me when I was down in the dumps by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being, but also has an entry in the JMF design contest<\/A>. You should vote for her!
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down sweater<\/p>\n


\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nLast weekend, sick<\/a> I went to Fiber Camp<\/A>. Fiber Camp is not your usual fiber festival – now in its third year, <\/a> Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-b<\/p>\n

I posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, on the works in project – I have to re-block the Sagrantino Shawl<\/A>, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me when I was down in the dumps by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being, but also has an entry in the JMF design contest<\/A>. You should vote for her!
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down sweater<\/p>\n


\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nLast weekend, sick<\/a> I went to Fiber Camp<\/A>. Fiber Camp is not your usual fiber festival – now in its third year, <\/a> Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-b<\/p>\n

I posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, on the works in project – I have to re-block the Sagrantino Shawl<\/A>, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nLast weekend, sick<\/a> I went to Fiber Camp<\/A>. Fiber Camp is not your usual fiber festival – now in its third year, <\/a> Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-b<\/p>\n

I posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, on the works in project – I have to re-block the Sagrantino Shawl<\/A>, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me when I was down in the dumps by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being, but also has an entry in the JMF design contest<\/A>. You should vote for her!
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nLast weekend, sick<\/a> I went to Fiber Camp<\/A>. Fiber Camp is not your usual fiber festival – now in its third year, <\/a> Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-b<\/p>\n

I posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, on the works in project – I have to re-block the Sagrantino Shawl<\/A>, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me when I was down in the dumps by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being, but also has an entry in the JMF design contest<\/A>. You should vote for her!
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down sweater<\/p>\n


\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nLast weekend, sick<\/a> I went to Fiber Camp<\/A>. Fiber Camp is not your usual fiber festival – now in its third year, <\/a> Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-b<\/p>\n

I posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, on the works in project – I have to re-block the Sagrantino Shawl<\/A>, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me when I was down in the dumps by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being, but also has an entry in the JMF design contest<\/A>. You should vote for her!
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down sweater<\/p>\n


\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nLast weekend, sick<\/a> I went to Fiber Camp<\/A>. Fiber Camp is not your usual fiber festival – now in its third year, <\/a> Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-b<\/p>\n

I posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, on the works in project – I have to re-block the Sagrantino Shawl<\/A>, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me when I was down in the dumps by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being, but also has an entry in the JMF design contest<\/A>. You should vote for her!
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down sweater<\/p>\n


\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nLast weekend, sick<\/a> I went to Fiber Camp<\/A>. Fiber Camp is not your usual fiber festival – now in its third year, <\/a> Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-b<\/p>\n

I posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, on the works in project – I have to re-block the Sagrantino Shawl<\/A>, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me when I was down in the dumps by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being, but also has an entry in the JMF design contest<\/A>. You should vote for her!
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down sweater<\/p>\n


\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, on the works in project – I have to re-block the Sagrantino Shawl<\/A>, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me when I was down in the dumps by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being, but also has an entry in the JMF design contest<\/A>. You should vote for her!
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nLast weekend, sick<\/a> I went to Fiber Camp<\/A>. Fiber Camp is not your usual fiber festival – now in its third year, <\/a> Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-b<\/p>\n

I posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, on the works in project – I have to re-block the Sagrantino Shawl<\/A>, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nLast weekend, sick<\/a> I went to Fiber Camp<\/A>. Fiber Camp is not your usual fiber festival – now in its third year, <\/a> Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-b<\/p>\n

I posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, on the works in project – I have to re-block the Sagrantino Shawl<\/A>, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me when I was down in the dumps by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being, but also has an entry in the JMF design contest<\/A>. You should vote for her!
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nLast weekend, sick<\/a> I went to Fiber Camp<\/A>. Fiber Camp is not your usual fiber festival – now in its third year, <\/a> Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-b<\/p>\n

I posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, on the works in project – I have to re-block the Sagrantino Shawl<\/A>, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me when I was down in the dumps by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being, but also has an entry in the JMF design contest<\/A>. You should vote for her!
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down sweater<\/p>\n


\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nLast weekend, sick<\/a> I went to Fiber Camp<\/A>. Fiber Camp is not your usual fiber festival – now in its third year, <\/a> Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-b<\/p>\n

I posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, on the works in project – I have to re-block the Sagrantino Shawl<\/A>, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me when I was down in the dumps by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being, but also has an entry in the JMF design contest<\/A>. You should vote for her!
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down sweater<\/p>\n


\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nLast weekend, sick<\/a> I went to Fiber Camp<\/A>. Fiber Camp is not your usual fiber festival – now in its third year, <\/a> Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-b<\/p>\n

I posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, on the works in project – I have to re-block the Sagrantino Shawl<\/A>, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me when I was down in the dumps by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being, but also has an entry in the JMF design contest<\/A>. You should vote for her!
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down sweater<\/p>\n


\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nLast weekend, sick<\/a> I went to Fiber Camp<\/A>. Fiber Camp is not your usual fiber festival – now in its third year, <\/a> Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-b<\/p>\n

I posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, on the works in project – I have to re-block the Sagrantino Shawl<\/A>, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me when I was down in the dumps by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being, but also has an entry in the JMF design contest<\/A>. You should vote for her!
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down sweater<\/p>\n


\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, on the works in project – I have to re-block the Sagrantino Shawl<\/A>, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me when I was down in the dumps by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being, but also has an entry in the JMF design contest<\/A>. You should vote for her!
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Joel Eagle, model Caroline Fryar, and Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nI created the Loopy Wicker Cowl<\/A> for the Juniper Moon Farm Design Contest<\/a>. The basic guidelines were to use up to 2 balls of either Willa<\/a> or Chadwick<\/A>. This is a very quick knit, thumb<\/a> plus 2 stitches).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAnd special thanks to photographer Susan Gibbs and model Caroline Fryar of Juniper Moon Farm for allowing me to republish this photo from the blog post about the contest finalists<\/A>:
\n<\/p>\n

Loopy Wicker Cowl
\nSize – one size fits most adults<\/p>\n

Materials:
\n1 ball Chadwick
\n(if making the 2-color version, 2 balls Chadwick)
\nThis pattern uses 70-80 yards of yarn in total.<\/p>\n

Size 8 (US) needles
\n1 button<\/p>\n

Gauge: 18 sts and 27 rows over 4 inches \/ 10 cm in stockinette<\/p>\n

Pattern notes: On the odd numbered rows, clinic<\/a> the yarn is wrapped twice around the needle when purling. These extra wraps are dropped in the even numbered rows and are what makes the long loops that form the wicker-like pattern.<\/p>\n

Cast on 26 stitches.<\/p>\n

Row 1 (WS): Purl entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making the purl stitch.<\/p>\n

Row 2 (RS): Dropping each extra wrap, K1, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in back, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 1 st remains. K1.<\/p>\n

Row 3: same as row 1<\/p>\n

Row 4: Dropping each extra wrap, K4, *sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, k3, k3 from cable needle, repeat from * until 4 sts remain. K4.<\/p>\n

Repeat rows 1-4 until the cowl is 20 inches long (50 cm). Bind off by purling. Finishing by sewing a button on one end.<\/p>\n

To make the 2-color version, cast on 10 stitches in main color, then 6 stitches in contrast color, then 10 stitches in main color. Follow the pattern as written but always use the same color to knit as the stitch below is.
\nIt’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….<\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, see<\/a> since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.<\/p>\n

Also the Ravelry group<\/A> for Spunky Eclectic<\/a> is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL\/silk that my friend Jenn<\/A> gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:<\/p>\n

\"Floating<\/p>\n

As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater<\/A> for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page<\/a>. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?<\/p>\n

Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.<\/p>\n

I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3\/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
\nLast weekend, Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nI taught this at FiberCamp<\/A> this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?<\/p>\n

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http:\/\/bit.ly\/sweettomheel<\/A>. I bought
\nCat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook<\/A> after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, internist<\/a> the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.<\/p>\n

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video<\/a>. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.<\/p>\n

You can download the PDF<\/A> of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi<\/A>‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
\nLast weekend, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-bert). And a pattern to knit for my husband….eventually.
\nLast weekend, sick<\/a> I went to Fiber Camp<\/A>. Fiber Camp is not your usual fiber festival – now in its third year, <\/a> Fiber Camp is about getting the community together to learn from each other. Getting high-quality instruction from top-notch industry experts costs a lot – these industry experts often need to travel, as well as feed their families and pay rent\/mortgage. The Common Cod Fiber Guild<\/A> does a great job of having industry experts at bimonthly meetings, but once a year they mix things up.<\/p>\n

Registration is very inexpensive – $40 for 2 days is the most expensive it gets, and that’s if you are not a member of the guild. You can also buy day passes for $25 if you can only make one day. The way it works is that there is a call for workshops among the community – you just edit a wiki page and add your suggestions for topics. You can suggest a topic you would like to see and suggest a topic you can teach. For example, here is the list of session topics from the 2012 Fiber Camp<\/A>.<\/p>\n

The schedule<\/A> starts to get filled in by the people who are teaching (“enabling”) the sessions. Fiber Camp allows people to schedule workshops during Fiber Camp itself, and because of this, the schedule cannot be completely full before the weekend starts. This allows people to schedule workshops they had not thought of before.<\/p>\n

Workshops are either 30 minutes or 1 hour. This is a perfect amount of time to “taste” a skill. For example, last year I learned how to spin on a drop spindle. This year I’m a spinning fiend. But I probably would not have paid $40 for a short beginner workshop to learn, because why spend the money if you don’t know if you’re going to like it? And I certainly would not have paid hundreds of dollars for a half-day or all-day intensive workshop from an industry expert.<\/p>\n

That’s the great thing about Fiber Camp – because you have not invested a lot, if you find yourself not liking a skill, you can actually leave the room<\/strong> and go somewhere else, or just be content to sit and listen without practicing the skill. Then again, if you find yourself loving a skill, you learn just enough to get you started, and just enough to let you know that yes, you do want to take a longer\/more intensive class.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve been separating “community” and “industry expert” so far in this post. But in reality, they are one and the same. Folks who want to learn double knitting can do so from Alasdair Post-Quinn<\/a> because, guess what, he’s local to Boston. There are no travel costs involved for him. Did I learn spinning from Abby Franquemont<\/A>? No, because she lives in the midwest, and it would be unfair to ask her to travel, stay in a hotel room, and give a short workshop when she is not getting reimbursed for her travel\/hotel expenses. But I learned from Guido Stein<\/A>, and I learned enough to know now that I want<\/strong> to take a class from Abby.<\/p>\n

There are also vendors, so you can stock up on supplies if you want. The vendor area is also the “hangout” area, and plenty of people hang around there, too. There is a swap table too, where you can drop off or pick up fiber, magazines\/books and other supplies (crochet hooks, needles, etc). I dropped off a lot of yarn that was being unloved, including some of my own handspun, and picked up a few magazines\/books.<\/p>\n

So, on to the fun. What did I learn\/get from Fiber Camp this year?<\/p>\n

Well, first off, I taught the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. I already posted the PDF handout<\/A>. I prepared the handout in advance, and there were a few people who told me they could not make my workshop because there were others going on. “No problem,” I said, “here’s the handout.” Folks really appreciated being able to have something they can look at, because they can try the skill themselves at home.<\/p>\n

I not only learned how to make a duct tape mannequin, I made one. Or rather, other folks made one of me – mine is the one in the middle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I learned how to use conductive thread to make gloves that I can manipulate a smartphone with<\/A>.<\/p>\n

And from the swap table, I picked up some cotton and cotton\/linen yarn, a pattern booklet (Reynolds, volume 66 “International Cables by Mary of Holland”), 2 Vogue Knitting magazines with patterns I like (Fall\/Winter 1982 and Holiday 1986), and the big score, a Kaffe Fassett<\/A> book – Kaffe’s California Patches<\/A>, Kaffe Fassett for Rowan.<\/p>\n

Now, I have been looking for a “Cosby sweater” pattern for a few years now. See, my husband actually likes<\/strong> them. While it was Koos Van Den Akker<\/A> who designed the real Cosby sweaters, Kaffe Fassett is a designer who makes patterns that look like Cosby sweaters. (Actually, while at Fiber Camp, I was told that Kaffe designed Cosby sweaters, and I thought he was the<\/strong> designer, but as I went to check my sources, I realized I was wrong. Always check your sources!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I now have a book of some pretty awesome geometric sweater patterns (think Q-b<\/p>\n

I posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, on the works in project – I have to re-block the Sagrantino Shawl<\/A>, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me when I was down in the dumps by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being, but also has an entry in the JMF design contest<\/A>. You should vote for her!
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down sweater<\/p>\n


\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!
\nI posted about 2 weeks ago<\/A> about what I was doing. My status is still the same, on the works in project – I have to re-block the Sagrantino Shawl<\/A>, I have to cast on for the 2nd Monkey Sock<\/A>, and I’m still working on the Crooked Little Scarf<\/A>.<\/p>\n

Cascade finally shipped the yarn I needed to make the Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater I want to make for my niece — because a few months ago, I showed her a sweater I was wearing that I knit and she said, “Aunt Sheeri, will you knit me something?” How could I say no? And then a few minutes later she said, “I have a secret to tell you. My favorite color is pink.” Which is not really a secret, but was really cute anyway. This is a top-down raglan sweater, and I have done the yoke so far and am just a few rows away from splitting off the sleeves:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to finish it!<\/p>\n

I have also started spinning some fiber gifted to me when I was down in the dumps by my friend Jenn<\/A>, who is not only a superb human being, but also has an entry in the JMF design contest<\/A>. You should vote for her!
\nI grabbed all the pictures I’ve taken in the past few weeks, infection<\/a> so here’s a version of what’s going on with me, clinic<\/a> based on the pictures I have. I know I just updated y’all yesterday, but today’s post has lots of pictures!<\/p>\n

In the “knitting while traveling” series, first off is how to knit on a plane when you have a pattern:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Then there’s my answer to “how do I block a scarf in a hotel room”?
\n<\/p>\n

Unfortunately it’s a bit too pointy for my tastes, and I do want to re-block it:
\n<\/p>\n

Exactly a month ago, on Saturday, February 18th, I finished a Flower Scarf<\/A>. What’s special about this scarf is that this started out as one ounce of white cashmere roving. I spun it, dyed it (with food coloring) and knit the scarf.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Here is a close-up that shows the color a little better (although it’s a bit washed out):
\n<\/p>\n

I acquired a loom while I was in California 2 weeks ago, and I have finished my first piece – the warp is a simple black cotton for weaving, and the weft is Noro Silk Garden sock yarn. This has not yet been blocked:
\n<\/p>\n

And I jumped right in and started another project – the warp is mercerized cotton and the weft is Jil Eaton CottonTail:
\n<\/p>\n

Here’s a more detailed shot:
\n<\/p>\n

I have continued to work on my niece’s Color Me Pretty<\/A> sweater. I have just gotten to the point where I slip the sleeve stitches off and start working on only the body. This is the magical part of a raglan for me, as it’s when the piece actually starts looking like a sweater:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The yarn is a dark purple solid color, I’m not sure why the photo shows a gradient-type color.<\/p>\n

Yesterday was a day full of shopping, and I picked up a seam ripper to finish getting all the cashmere I could out of the thrift store sweater I started on last week. I got the rest of the sweater pulled out and Navajo-plied it. It’s resting on the bobbin now, but I did have a full bobbin from Wednesday, which I took off, measured, bathed, and put up to dry. It dried this morning, and it’s close to 600 yards of what looks like a sock-weight yarn (I haven’t measured WPI yet, but it’s 3.75 ounces, or 109 grams):<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I have been spinning more of the Hello Yarn BFL\/silk that I talked about yesterday. I also took pictures of the fiber – here’s the fiber as a bump:
\n<\/p>\n

I think the colors show better as a braid, though:
\n<\/p>\n

I’ve spun up almost half (2 ounces). I’m thinking I might do a 2×2 cable with this yarn, but I’m not 100% sure. I will have to sample. I worry that the colors will muddy, but I think as a cable it will be more heathered. I’ve just split the yarn lengthwise into 4 parts, so there’s no fancy fractal spinning going on or anything, but I’m sure I didn’t divide it exactly equally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In hindsight, and the world is a very big place. Gary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058 In hindsight, and the world is a very big place. Gary Whizin, as interviewed by Matt Asay, http:\/\/planetmysql.org\/entry.php?id=8058 As a first post, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale. I will start with completed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1,3,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dyeing","category-knit","category-spin","category-weaving"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sheeri.com\/crafty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sheeri.com\/crafty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sheeri.com\/crafty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sheeri.com\/crafty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sheeri.com\/crafty\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sheeri.com\/crafty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45,"href":"https:\/\/sheeri.com\/crafty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions\/45"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sheeri.com\/crafty\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sheeri.com\/crafty\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sheeri.com\/crafty\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}