Another sort of spoiler photo at the bottom of this post (for May spinning club fiber) ...

Recently off the needles:


Natalya Gauntlets (Ravelry link). I knit this pattern years and years ago out of some handspun, and love these gloves. The cables make them nice and snug. I also modified it and didn't do the individual finger holes because I don't like individual finger holes on my fingerless mitts. This pair is knit in Spirit Trail Birte in "Green Velvet." Birte is my new DK weight-ish sw merino/cashmere/bombyx silk. I knit these on a size 5; they're a little snug so if / when I make another pair (this is a booth sample), I'll probably go up to a size 6 or maybe even 7.

On the needles right now:

A big bunchie white thing. This is the beginning of the shawl I'm knitting with handspun merino/bombyx silk fingering (one ply merino/silk, one ply silk, hence the shiny). I'm planning to space dye it after it's knitted. I have about 3 feet knitted. Lots to go, plus a knitted-on border afterwards.

This weekend, we planted our garden (just in time for the practically nonstop rain we've had since Saturday ... we'll see if the carrot and lettuce seeds have remained where we put them). This is our new garden, right behind the house ... we had originally put the garden out in the pasture, but it proved to be too shady on the edge of the woods, and sort of too far from the house to easily water and maintain it. So, the fire pit was turned into a garden. I'm liking this because the larger / outer crescent is actually a stone wall, so I'll be able to stand up against it and weed / harvest, rather than bending over. We planted the lettuce, strawberries and some of the low-growing herbs up in this area to make it all easier. Down below are tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, melons, watermelons, and some of the larger herbs. Lots of french marigolds planted throughout, too (bugs and grubs don't like the smell).

It's a bit smaller than gardens we've had in the past, but I think / hope this will make the weeding and such more manageabale. I hate to weed more than I can say.

So, a couple of people over on Ravelry commented that they'd like to see the sw bfl and the mixed bfl side by side, to see the difference. It was, I'll admit, a bit difficult to get a good photo. The difference is evident when you're looking at the fibers in real life, but not quite so in a photo.

The one on the left is the mixed bfl. You can see the variation in color / sort of stripey effect from the brown/white bfl which also mutes and softens the colors a bit. Versus the 100% sw bfl on the right, where the colors are more clear, solid and vibrant. The difference in color is most evident in the purple areas of the photo.

Warning: May Spinning Club Spoiler at the bottom of this post! :-D

A couple photos of new fibers, going up in the shop today or tomorrow:

White Masham, from Great Britain:

It's more of a vanilla/golden white than the photo shows ... even my new camera doesn't quite cooperate with the different shades of white (although it's way better). Masham is a lustrous longwool, long-stapled fiber originating in the Northern Counties in England, and is a cross between a Teeswater ram onto either a Dalesbred or Swaledale ewe, both hardy hill breeds.

Brown Rambouillet, from the US:


With interesting gray bits here and there. Not as soft as other Rambouillet I've had before, but very nice nonetheless.

Polwarth, from the Falkland Islands, blended with baby alpaca, baby camel, suri alpaca, silk, yak, cashmere:


This fiber has more tan, brown and gray bits in than the photo shows. It's lovely, and very soft.

They, along with the rest of the fibers not yet up, should be in the shop this afternoon or tomorrow.

May spinning club fiber (100% Bluefaced Leicester, either mixed brown/white or superwash):

This is the first time I've dyed the mixed bluefaced leicester fiber, and it surprised me a bit. There is more variation between dyelots than I'm accustomed to, even though I mixed all the dye at one time and applied it fairly consistently. So, some braids have more tans and darker colors, others less purple and more blue, and more of the brighter blue. Not sure why, but working with a new fiber always hold some surprises.

I do also have quite a bit left over of both of these fibers, so if anyone is interested in purchasing more just email me. I may also do a contest for several braids over on Ravelry again, just for fun.

Tour de Fleece. 7/3 - 7/25/10

For the first time ever, there will be a Spirit Trail / Knitter's Review Tour de Fleece Team. Clara and I teamed up and formed Team Superfleece (Ravelry link). Spin any Spirit Trail Fiber, or a breed from the Knitter's Book of Wool during the Tour. There will be prizes. And goals. And prizes. And fun. Head on over to Ravelry and join us if you're so inspired.

And speaking selfishly here, maybe I'll actually accomplish something. My personal TdF goal is to actually spin EVERY day. That in itself would be a feat.

On another note, just received another sample in the mail:


Anne Hanson's Rivolo, knitted in Spirit Trail Ananke (100% silk DK weight) in "Calypso." This yarn worked marvelously with this pattern, and it's just beautiful. Knitted for me by Nancy. Thanks, Nancy!

And, for once, the color is pretty right on in the photo. YAY! My new camera came, and although I'm still learning and experimenting (and will be for a LONG time, I think), I am inordinantly pleased with how well it takes photos, how true and clear the colors are, and so on.

I'm *still* catching up from MDSW, so more sample photos are still coming. Website updates are progressing, slowly, but I'm hoping to have them all done by the 17th, or early next week.

And May Spinning Club fibers are dyed and drying, and scheduled for mailing by this coming Friday! Spoiler photo pending :-D

SPOILER ALERT: May Yarn Club Photo at the Bottom of this Post!

Maryland Sheep and Wool is over for another year. It's so bittersweet. So much work and frantic craziness in the weeks preceding the show, so much looking forward to the show & seeing friends, and then it's over in the blink of a sweaty, begrimed and bloodshot eye.

This year was a good show, crazy on Saturday as usual and a bit quieter on Sunday. It was wonderful to see old friends and meet new. It was HOT (I think we're due for perfect weather in 2011, don't you?).

As usual, Clara wrote a wonderful synopsis of the Festival, complete with her excellent photography. She even mentioned my new yarn, Birte (thanks, Clara!) and snapped a photo of my new sock displays, which a friend's husband fabricated for me and I just love (the best way I could come up with to decoratively display 12 sock samples in as small a space as possible).

Another entirely pleasant and exciting surprise for me was to see Anne Hansen's blog post earlier this week, where she included photos of the yarns and fibers she picked up in my booth (and my new sock displays. hee). I met Anne for the first time at last year's Knitter's Review Retreat. She is one of the nicest people I've ever met, and it was great to see her at MD.

I do very little shopping at the shows I do, because really, I don't need anything much and tend to knit with my own yarns and fibers the majority of the time anyway. I will admit that this year I came home with three sets of Shelia and Michael Ernst's glass circular needles, which I have been coveting for many years. Love them.

I also came home with a Nancy's Jumbo Ballwinder and three bumps of roving from Stefania. I blame Naomi entirely for this fiber purchase, because she showed me what she bought (celery green coopworth/silk), and if I hadn't seen hers then I wouldn't have wanted any. I bought 2 bumps of the same lovely celery-green coopworth/silk, and then a darker green / blue / gold / olive / many shaded coopworth. I will admit that I don't usually like Coopworth, but Stefania's is wonderfully ~ dare I say surprisingly ~ soft. I will also admit that I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, and certainly didn't need it, but there you go.

I also tried the Hansen espinner, and loved it. I'd like to order one, but I didn't this time around. Because I came home and ordered the new, fancy camera that I've been desperately needing forever. But it would be a great little spinner to take to SOAR, so compact and portable, and quiet. Ah, maybe one of these days.

I dyed SO much stuff for MD, and sold lots and lots, but still have lots to load into my shop. The plan is to get it loaded next week and probably into the week after. I have a fair amount of my new yarn, Birte, as well as all the other new yarns and Sunna, and others. Lots of combed top blend braids, too. And new fibers. So, I have my work cut out for me, and am hoping to get everything up ASAP. It's tops on my Priority List, after getting the May fiber club dyed, which will be early next week.

Right now I'm working on a project that has been on my mind for about four years or so. Last year I spun the yarn for it, which is a two ply, fingering to sport weight yarn. One ply is 100% bombyx silk and the other is 50/50 silk/merino. I'm knitting a shawl that I'm going to then space-dye.

Here's the pattern swatch:

The pattern is from The Haapsalu Shawl, which is a beautiful book which Clara reviewed a while back, here. So, I blame Clara for making me buy this book (see the pattern of my rationalizations here? Nothing is my fault :-D ).

I especially like this pattern because there are no extra stitches between the leaf patterns, which is just what I was looking for, for this particular project.

And here is the May Yarn Club spoiler photo. Again, bear with me, it was taken with my old and rotten camera. It is a seriously vibrant RED (because, really, doesn't everyone need some rich, red silk at some point?):


It's really more red than this photo shows, but the combination of bad camera and shiny silk made it very difficult to get a good photo.

I have quite a number of new booth samples I'm going to post photos of in the near (hopefully) future. But they're buried in the trailer right now, and I'm going to wait for my new camera to arrive.