Visits with Rita and Barb

So much has happened in the last month that I hardly know where to start. July 30th found me on the road again, northbound to New Hampshire. My first stop was the home of Rita Buchanan. It's always such a joy to visit Rita. She and husband Steve have the perfect artists retreat in rural Connecticut, a modest sized central home, light and airy, with two separate studios. Steve's studio (he's a nature artist and you've seen his work on the "Crop" stamps as well as many others (Vintage Motorcycles, Pollinators, Reptiles and Amphibians)) is above the garage with the entrance tucked well back into the woods. Private and quiet. Rita's studio is in the house next door! She walks there every morning, crossing a bridge over a bubbling creek and following a path through the woods. When they first bought it, the house was almost a tear-down, but Rita and Steve completely gutted it, cleaned it out and remodeled, all by themselves. It's a dream studio, with four separate working rooms, three down and one up. One of the downstairs rooms is almost all windows with a view of her lovely garden full of lovingly tended shrubs, trees, flowers and stonework. Rita always gives me a mini lesson when I visit and this year it was a cotton spinning lesson.She had me spinning cotton on a Schacht Matchless in 5 minutes! And it held together...I was speechless. Rita spins everything on either her Schacht or her electric spinner. The bowl above contains some of her handspuns awaiting the loom in silk, cotton, linen and hemp. We used her handwoven dishtowels in the kitchen (can you imagine?), woven in subtle patterns from handspun cotton and linen. Her terry handtowel above is so cushy, so utterly touchable, all handspun and handwoven from the natural colored fibers, green cotton and linen. See how the terry stripes are one fiber and the flat stripes another...and it's reversable! What an elegant asthetic! What remarkable craftsmanship. Stunning! To top it off we took the kayak and canoe out on a local lake and picked blueberries from the boats. These became sublime muffins the next morning...the ones we didn't eat, that is. Rita loved my kayak...looked like a little girl with a new toy as she paddled. Thanks, Rita, for such a great time!

On my way home I got to visit Barb Parry of Foxfire Fibers. What a treat! I had met

Barb when she took my class at SOAR in 2003. She spoke so lovingly of her animals then that I've always wanted to see her again and meet the flock. Finally this year I got to do just that. And her remarkable love for her flock pays off in the sweetest, most affectionate sheep I've ever had the pleasure to meet. The little black ram lamb snuggling against me is Cinder, who followed me when we started to leave and snuggled me for more pets all the way to the fence. Barb takes such great care of her animals that it shows in her fiber and yarn. I bought some of her cormo, alpaca and silk millspun that she had dyed because I just could not resist it's cush and cuddly softness. Those skeins glowed in the front seat of my car as I traveled south to Webs and all I wanted to do was whip out my needles and start knitting. I bought some square needles at Webs and started in on some Spiralling Leaves Fingerless gloves, altering it for the worsted weight yarn. You'll see them soon.

You can read all about Barb's life on the farm on her Sheep Gal blog. If you haven't seen her new book, Teach Yourself VISUALLY Hand Dyeing, you should definitely check it out. She covers many types of dyeing in beautifully illustrated and easy to follow format. Get your copy today!

More soon. There are stories from Harrisville and the Tennessee Museum workshop yet to tell. My LYS owner and pal Jim Warf of Decherd Needleworks got in a new shipment of Cascade closeouts and he's got a ridiculously fine sale going on...up to 75% off some nifty yarns. You don't have to be in Tennessee to check it out. You can buy online from him. More on all this soon.

The Elastic Rebound Theory

Maybe I feel like being controversial for a change, but as I was sitting spinning some unbelieveably beautiful fiber (TWF "Delphiniums" on merino/tussah silk is iridescent, like Amazon butterflies) I recalled that I’d heard there was a controversy going around about pre-drafting fiber before spinning. I think (this is pure heresay) that someone said that pre-drafting is for sissies.

I don’t like to get worked up over spinning. In the first place, I spin to relax. But statements like this remind me of the elastic rebound theory...you know...in grade school they ask you if you’ve even heard of the elastic rebound theory and when you say no they give you a wedgie and then let go, snapping you with your own underpants. Well, I feel the need to do some snapping. “Predrafting is for sissies” comes under the heading of all those other quasi-rules that may be appropriate in a small context but get taken way out of hand when repeated once the context is long gone. One of these beauties is “you can’t spin from the fold on a hand spindle”. When someone told me that I immediately picked up the spindle and spun from the fold. Good grief.

Truth is I rarely pre-draft fiber unless I have a specific reason to do so. There are as many ways to pre-draft as there are reasons to do it. To align colors or multiple strips of color, to get the fibers moving in a dyed top, to stretch the colorbands in a handpainted roving, to transform a batt into a roving to meld colors. It’s an invaluable tool to teach newbie spinners how fibers glide past each other. Most new spinners need a little help understanding this phenomenon. Once you get it...or should I say...once your hands get it, you’ve got it, and all of a sudden you are drafting automatically on your own.

Spinning is a tactile art. It’s kinesthetic. It’s all about the feel. Pre-drafting is part of that feel...pulling on a section of roving just long enough to feel the fibers let go of each other and align. How you draft, how you spin, it all shows up in the yarn. No two people can spin exactly alike no matter how their fiber is prepared, no matter how they work their hands. Once you do, you might as well be machines.

So let’s get real. All this hubbub begs the question, “Why do I spin?” Personally, I spin because I love yarn that looks and feels like it was handled by the human hand. Those of you who have knit with your own handspun know what I’m talking about. That fabric feels different than any other fabric, even one you’ve knitted from someone else’s handspun. It has your hands in the work, your very own hands. Your hands give the yarn and fabric life. I spin to feel that life.

Why do you spin?

Spin, Crochet, Knit at Harrisville Designs

There is still some room in my 3-day Spinning for Colorwork Knitting workshop at Harrisville Designs, Aug 10-12, 2009. This is a short version of my longer spin, dye, knit class Aug 3-7 without the dyeing portion of the workshop. We should really call it, spin, crochet, knit. We'll explore spinning both active singles and plied yarns from handpainted rovings by knitting and crocheting small motifs and arranging them in a free form composition. This is a great way to understand how to use handpaints, and an opportunity to just knit and crochet with little or no pattern and let the yarn show you where to go. Before long you'll be able to introduce the color sequences you want into your yarns, or just simply relish the language of the yarn. I'll provide instruction on colorwork techniques such as mosaic, intarsia and entrelac for those interested. You should be comfortable spinning at the wheel or spindle and know how to either knit or crochet or both (not required that you know both). The main purpose of this class is to provide an exciting and supportive environment for experimentation, exploration and understanding of spinning, crocheting and knitting with multicolored yarns. For more photos, see my pages at flickr and ravelry.

Chatty Cathy: Shakerag, MSSA Bazaar and Harrisville

So much is going on these days. Shakerag Workshops are over and life is back to semi-normal. I'm busy dyeing for the Monteagle Sunday School Assembly Cottage Tour and Bazaar on Wednesday July 15 in Monteagle, TN. Jan Quarles of Daily Fibers and I will have a booth again this year and a good time will be had by all. Two weeks after that I'll be heading up to Harrisville, NH for my annual workshop. I'll be staying longer this year. After our weeklong spin, dye, knit intensive is over, I'll teach a three day spinning and knitting workshop (no dyeing), ala our recent freeform feast at Dubose Center in Monteagle last May (see "Hands On Color a Huge Success"). Although the spin, knit, dye class, August 3-7, is full, the following three day Spinning for Colorwork Knitting workshop, Aug 10-12, still has a few places available. So if you have been wanting to take one of my classes, this will be a great opportunity.

Recently I had the exquisite pleasure of attending David Chatt's workshop, "Achieving Nirvana Through the Fully Realized Beaded Bracelet". Laura Shea of the "Plato Bead" and other marvelously beaded mathematical spheres was in attendance complete with an "OM" ball that droned the chant at the slightest jiggle. It's first utterance mooed forth as David bent to sit for a one on one lesson with Laura and bumped the table, sending us in to raptures of laughter. Subsequently, the orb sang at each "aha moment" and some not so "aha moments". What a great class we had. Deb from New Hampshire brought amazingly beautiful freeform beaded scarves, Marti and Shirley from Miami brought such stash (talk about Nirvana) and engineered and afternoon latte cart with my espresso machine from home. David loves his beverage. Jason from Austin and Eryn from California waltzed into class with no experience in right angle weave and waltzed out with beautiful bracelets. Alma and Judy did such beautiful work. And I stitched my first ever bracelet in right angle weave. As we all may know, beadwork

can be tedious, all those tiny holes and invisible threads and sharp pointy needles, so levity was rampant at times (the OM ball being the ice breaker), even though every time people wandered into our class we were quiet and serious, little angels that we were. By the last day of class we were watching Mrs. Miller on David's computer. After lunch that day, Shanna Leino, the teacher of the Coptic Bookbinding class, made a special appearance to perform with Eryn Talevich and I in a favorite skit from SNL, the Witches Brew originally performed by Sherri Oteri, Molly Shannon, Ana Gastheyer and Cameron Diaz. A group of three witches brew up a cauldron gone bad and try to describe the obnoxious odors that spew forth. How we managed to perform it without laughing (well, maybe a titter) was amazing. BTW, guys, Shanna is from Harrisville, NH. Think we can talk her into performing for our class this summer??? Huh, Shanna, huh??? All kidding aside, we had an awesome time with David. He showered us all with individual attention, twice daily individual conferences over our bead tables. Everyone got what they came for and more, including the confidence and knowledge to engineer our own clasps (gasp). And David brought boxes and boxes of beadwork which we all found ourselves surreptitiously carrying around the room, trying on, hoarding at our work stations and almost unconsciously walking off with. Thanks, David! Class was epic.

I only took the one class this year. There were so many others of note, one being Jorie Johnson's felting class, which Eryn took and did the best work she'd ever done in a workshop. Also there was Susan Shie, Ruby Chisti, Judy Dominic, Shanna Leino, and more and more. Next year India Flint will come all the way from Australia to give two separate sessions of natural dyeing. Sign ups don't happen till October at the earliest or I'd be on the list right now.

Tennessee State Museum

The Tennessee State Museum in Nashville, TN, is hosting a unique event August 22, 2009. The following is the official flier for the event. I'll be hosting the spinning workshop, a living exhibit. For more info or to sign up for one of the workshops described in the following,contact Elaine Aldous at the Tennessee State Museum. This is a unique opportunity indeed. Even if you don't sign up for the workshops you can come and watch.

***********************************************************************************************************************************

The Tennessee State Museum and the Handweavers Guild of Nashville are partnering to offer a special day at the Museum, centered around historical techniques for cloth making and how they can be applied in modern artistic creations. Experienced weavers and spinners, school children, teachers and the general public will all find something of interest.

Specialized Artistic Workshops: From 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. there will be two concurrent workshops. One will concentrate on spinning; the other on weaving. Lynne Vogel’s workshop will focus on spinning fine yarns using currently popular fibers and combining fibers in experimental yarns. Geri Forkner’s weaving workshop will explore the different effects of historic weaves when used both traditionally and with modern interpretation/fibers (including using some experimental yarns from the spinning workshop). The interaction of the two workshops will be a unique experience, opening new vistas for participants. Vogel and Forkner are both nationally prominent, Tennessee-based master-teachers. Workshop participants may sign up for either weaving or spinning (registration form below). One place in each workshop is reserved for a Metro school teacher (scholarships available). The workshops are for experienced spinners and weavers only. Participants must supply their own equipment.

For Museum Visitors (Free Admission – 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.) Visitors may watch the artistic workshops, see the progression from fiber to fabric, and try their hand at drop-spindle spinning and/or cardboard loom weaving, while learning about the historic spinning and weaving equipment exhibited in the museum.

Hand On Color Monteage a huge success

I am thrilled to report that Hands On Color at Dubose Conference Center in Monteagle, TN was a huge success for all involved this past weekend. 17 participants thoroughly immersed themselves in knitting and crocheting beautiful small motifs from active twist handspun singles spun from a sumptuous array of handpainted fibers from Three Waters Farm. I even brought a small collection of my own handpainted fiber (am dyeing a little more now) and it was quickly consumed. I am so happy with everyone's work, their courageous journeys into crochet, freeform and art fabrics, vessels and even wristwarmers. Even the most newbie spinners dove happily and unflinchingly into the project at hand with beautiful results (see the yellow circle in the bottom photo...Claire is two month's new to spinning and knit this lovely piece from her spindle spun yarn...and the green and purple garter fabric at the bottom of the same photo is by Daria, only 5 months spinning). I've posted some gorgeous pictures here and on Ravelry and flickr. Photos on Flickr have detailed descriptions. Thanks to everyone who came. It was a fantastic weekend!

I've been a fan of Prudence Mapstone and Jenny Dowde for some years now and have been wanting to try my own hand at freeform projects, both on my own and in class. I think one of the most successful aspects of our adventure this last weekend is that we all approached the work naively, teacher included. Our collective classwork provided instant gratification for all of us, because in two short days the work of seventeen fiber enthusiasts filled a table with beautiful motifs and it gave us all a palpable sense of what it would be like to do this kind of thing on our own. Each piece was lovely in its own right, but by putting our work together we could see how each piece takes a valuable and meaningful place in the whole picture. 

We all had fun composing and photographing our arrangements. I can't wait for us to try this again at Harrisville in August. What fun! Thanks to you wonderful aussies, Prudence, Jenny and company, for your awesome inspiration.

Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival this Weekend

It's time again for Maryland Sheep and Wool! Three Waters Farm will be there again with a tantalizing array of colorful yarns and fibers. New this year is a line, of Organic Wool in both sport and worsted weights (love this stuff!!!) in a full palette of vibrant tonals. This yarn line will make it's lovely debut at MS&W this weekend along with my NEW crochet scarf pattern "Indigo Vibe" (bottom). TWF booth will have samples of my Undulation Cuffs and Undulation Scarf knit in Organic Wool. 

Superfluity Kits are still a hit and I've designed a new pattern just for this kit. It's called Tiger Lily and it's shown here in "Lotus" (above). Tiger Lily is easy enough for a beginning knitter and can be worn any number of ways.

Also new from TWF this year is Bamberino 60% merino/40% bamboo worsted weight yarn. This comes in a 600 yd skein, enough for Superfluity, Superruffly, Justify, or my NEW Blythe Spirit Mobius Wrap (center), a combination of knitted lace and chunky crochet...very fun. Bamberino skeins are all one or two offs, all are pale to medium pastel combos.

Blythe Spirit, Tiger Lily and Indigo Vibe patterns are now available on my Etsy Shop and you can get Three Waters Farm yarns from their website or TWF Etsy Shop, or look them up if you are lucky enough to be at Maryland Sheep and Wool this weekend.

Indigo Vibe is a savvy little crochet scarf that's a snap to work up. It's bold and delicate at the same time, drapy, groovy, fun. Its asymmetrical trim gives it an unexpected flair. Skill level is somewhere between beginning and intermediate...what I like to call easy but not boring.

Goat Cuteness

Goats are dogs with horns. They are socially oriented communicators, opportunists, easily trained and tameable. My vet's assistant mortifies her 14 yr old daughter by driving into the school parking lot with the family goat in the front seat, heat lolling out the open window, bleating. That's dog status if you ask me. Goats are cool.

Recently I went to Elizabeth's for a mini photo shoot (that's her in my new Undulation Scarf below). She is our local "egg lady", delivering beautiful white, brown and green (worthy of Martha Stewart) eggs from chickens that do what they want, when they want, even climb trees to eat

 fresh apples. 

This time

 around (it being spring) there were baby goats in abundance. They ran to the fence to greet me and hit me up for treats. As I'm coming to learn, milk goats are often bottle fed to tame them early on. They see humans (we all look alike, you know) as

 walking

 milk bottles. So when these guys ran up to me and I put my hand in to pet them, the little grey faced darling butted my hand like it was an udder, then looked up at me like this. When they decided I was milkless, and probably wasn't getting the picture, the smartest one decided to make his plea more obvious by sitting in the feed bucket. Can't help but wonder not "if" animals think we're stupid, but "how"...as in "how stupid is that?" how.

 

Here's Elizabeth in the Undulation. I've written patterns for both scarf and cuffs and you'll find them listed separately on my Etsy store. These are easy patterns as lace patterns go...all pattern stitches work on right side rows. Everyone who has tried the cuffs on has wanted a pair. These are knit in Sierra Cascade, a mostly cotton blend. This duo is very well suited for vegetable fiber yarns.

Upcoming Classes

Just a reminder.

Sunday, April 5, 2009: Hands on Color at Haus of Yarn, Nashville, TN.

Sunday, April 19: Beginning Wheel Spinning at Yarn Expressions, Huntsville, AL

Sat and Sun, May 16, and 17: Hands on Color residential workshop at Dubose Conference Center, Monteagle, TN. See details in previous blog post. email for more info.

Boucle Version of Ripple

Pat Harder of Kid Hollow Farm gifted me with this lovely skein of her kid mohair boucle yarn. I’m not sure of the colorway, but it’s one she does a lot. Her yarns are amazingly beautiful, and she has loads of gorgeous colorways. So I knit Ripple extra long…36 rectangles…on a 60” Addi Turbo circular US 10 1/2 needle. I ran out of Pat’s gorgeous yarn, but had a 200 yd skein of Mary Ann’s kid mohair silk boucle in a "Mountain View" (olive, gold and blue), so I finished the edging with that. It took probably 600 yds in all. When Mary Ann’s daughter Lilliana saw the scarf, she started dancing around with it in total ecstacy and I knew then it had to be hers.

Ripple

Knitty, Spring 2009 just went live and it's full of awesome patterns, including my newest, Ripple. You'll find not one, but two (count 'em, two) versions in the same pattern page.  The handspun version (pictured here) is a neckwarmer length in sport weight in my two-ply handspun. I spun the yarn from Three Waters Farm BFL fiber, one ply each of "Winter Fields" and "Winter Daybreak" plied together. It's knit on smaller needles too. If you don't spin, you'll soon find a beautiful tonal yarn dyed especially for Ripple at Three Waters Farm. It's called Bamberino Tonal and it's a superwash merino/bamboo light worsted weight yarn> If you knit it on a size US 8 needle it will be slightly open and drapey. If you knit it on a US 5 or 6, you will get a firmer, ripplier fabric more like my handspun. I've knit Undulation (see earlier post) in this yarn and I love it...photos soon.

The standard length scarf is knit in Celery K1C2 Camelino, a worsted weight merino/camel hair blend I bought at Threadbear...very soft and cushy yarn.

The rose pin that you see in the photo of moi at the bottom of the page is called Ripple Rose and you can find that pattern in my Etsy store.

Color Class!!!

HANDS ON COLOR, a Spinning Workshop

with Lynne Vogel

Dubose Conference Center, Monteagle, TN

9 AM-4 PM, May 16 & 17, 2009

Workshop Coordinator: Daria Bocciarelli

 

Come as you are and leave with new color spinning skills and inspiration.

 

I’ve been wanting to hold a residential spinning retreat here on the mountain for some time. Finally, it is going to happen! Monteagle, TN is on Tennessee’s beautiful Cumberland Plateau (the “mountain”) and is minutes from both Sewanee’s beautiful University of the South campus and Tennessee’s scenic South Cumberland Recreation Area. Those of you who have come to Shakerag Workshops will know that we’re just a few miles from St. Andrews Sewanee.

 

Hands On Color, a Spinning Workshop is a residential, two-day color intensive for spinners who want to expand their understanding of spinning hand-painted rovings. In a casual and supportive atmosphere you will learn how to make many different yarns from one handpainted roving and broaden your understanding of color theory and color relationships as they relate to spinning. And just spin. We’ll explore yarn design wholistically by knitting or crocheting with our samples to see how yarns look in the final project. Although this is not a beginning spinning class, if you are comfortable spinning at a wheel or spindle, then you are ready to take this class. More experienced spinners and dyers will find plenty of inspiration from this class as well. Lynne’s goal is to encourage each participant to move forward from their own individual skill level, both technically and artistically. This is definitely going to be a very fun class, a color feast.

 

We’ll be housing the workshop at the Dubose Conference Center in Monteagle, TN. Reasonable and clean accomodations are available in dorm-style Claiborne Hall. Three meals a day are served in the dining room. Our conference room is large and airy, capable of holding up to 25 spinners with wheels. Mary Ann Pagano of Three Waters Farm will have a beautiful mini-store set up with fiber, yarn and handmade soap. Local participants or those with other lodgings are welcome to attend for the class, or class and meals.

 

Deadline for registration is May 1, 2009. Please contact workshop coordinator Daria Bocciarelli for more information and registration forms.

 

Shearing Day

The first time I walked into the fleece barn at the Black Sheep Gathering and stood in a room full of fresh fleeces I felt something come alive within me, an emotion powerful and ancient. This primal recognition lifted me as on a wave, awakening memories that could only be written in my DNA, memories of foggy moors dotted with sheep, guarded by the watchful eye of a border collie. I can smell the heather, feel the moisture bead up on my shetland sweater. My mind wanders to visions of hearth and tea kettle, a bite of scone, or a heavy crust of handmade bread and crumble of sharp cheddar beside a flaggon of brown ale. Even as I write I feel an upswelling of emotion.

Yesterday was shearing day at Three Waters Farm and I had the good fortune to be there. Mary Ann, Stephen and I watched as the shearer prepared his mat and clippers, put on his felt slippers, dipped a bit of Red Man with the reverence of one taking communion. Then he turned and said, "OK ladies, who's first. With gentle confidence and manly strength, he caught and positioned a ewe and deftly buzzed away a year of buttery wool. Mary Ann took each fleece as though she was handed a newborn lamb, inspected, trimmed and rolled the beautiful thing into a ball, then into a bag with the ewe's name. We watched Old Lady, Young Lady, Tawny, and the Inscrutable Romney (that's her in the photo) lose their locks in a sweep of finery. And my heart filled with bittersweet emotion at the joy of our harvest and the sheeps' loss of their

 protective blankets.

I arrived here Wednesday night for our yearly dye blowout. I love it here.Good company, good food. It's never boring. Last year there was the goat that hurt it's leg. We had to hold it to give it injections and it fainted in our arms every time (hey, I can relate). We watched Young Lady getting ready to lamb, but holding off until we finally went to town. I really wanted to see that lamb being born. We watched for three days. Of course, when we finally had to go to town, out popped a little racoon faced black BFL lamb. This year I watched that yearling render his hoggit fleece, soft, black, as we all spoke of chocolate and the caramel foam that graces a cup of well made espresso. 

This year Old Lady had given birth to triplets on the second coldest day of the year and things were nip and tuck. The morning after I arrived found me not in the dye studio, but in the barn, cradling a 5 pound ram lamb in the bib of my overalls. And during one of my short trips to the house, Young Lady managed to give birth to another raccoon faced black lamb. Just like that! I came back to the barn and there was a wet, steaming lamb on the ground. Why? 

Over the last three days Mary Ann has managed to save the lives of all three with bi hourly bottle feedings and plenty of attention to the mother. Even as we sat at the computer, Mary Ann perused the screen with a tiny ewe lamb looking on from the bib of her overalls, a bottle sticking out of her pocket like a misplaced udder waving in the breeze. Yesterday was magically warm, 70 degrees, and finally everyone looks great despite rough beginnings.

Twist Collective and Undulation

Twist Collective's Spring Issue is live and lovely. If you haven't seen this online knitting magazine, do check it out. They put a great new twist on the genre...snazzy themed layouts with models posing in beautiful places (not to mention some of the most adorable babies...gad!), lots of eye candy, really interesting articles (like Barbara Parry's sheep...oh, the lambs) and how to paint on knitted lace with dye by Linda Whiting. They have regular columns by faves like Claire Parkes of Knitters Review (Swatch It) and the Mason Dixon gals Ann Shayne and Kay Gardner (Dear Problem Ladies). And this issue features my photos in Notebook, beautifully compiled in Twist Collective's inimitable style. This is a very special honor. Thanks, ladies!!!!

In celebration of Spring, I'm offering a new pattern on my Etsy store. Undulation Cuffs put on the romance with a whimsical touch of lace. The cuffs in the photo are knit in Cascade Sierra, a cotton/wool blend in a soothing pale indigo (color 23) that melds magically with denim. They are fun to knit and fun to wear. Pattern gives tips on sizing...even for children sizes.  Emma loved being a part of our photo shoot. While mom Elizabeth modelled Undulation in her vintage Levi's jacket, Emma brought us homemade goat cheese and crackers she had fixed herself. After we were through shooting, Emma tried on the cuffs and danced around in them. Here she is handing them back, all done up like a bunch of flowers. Great gift wrap idea???

Class Announcements

Tomorrow, Valentine's Day,  Yarn Expressions in Huntsville, AL is hosting my beginning spindle spinning class. There is still a little room in that class if you are interested in learning how to spin.

Haus of Yarn has just announced my one day Hands on Color spinning class in Nashville, TN on Sunday, April 5, 2009. If you live in Middle Tennessee or Southern Kentucky and have wanted to take my color class, this is your chance.  Here's the exerpt from their newsletter. It will go up on their website soon, so here's your chance to sign up early.

We are very excited to announce that Lynne Vogel will be stopping by Haus of Yarn on Sunday, April 5th for a special, all day spinning workshop!  Lynne will be teaching Hands on Color: Spinning and swatching to develop your personal color language is the goal of this workshop.  You’ll completely immerse yourself in color and yarn design and learn how to use a variety of color spinning techniques to turn handpainted rovings into a wide array of unique yarns.  Students will be encouraged to recognize and develop their own personal color aesthetic as they design their own yarns. “

The workshop will be 10:00a.m. - 4:00p.m., and we'll provide lunch.  The class fee will be $90, which will include 4 oz. of Lynne's handpainted roving.  Lynne will also be available to workshop participants for a book signing, as Lynne has authoredThe Twisted Sisters Knit Sweaters: A Knit-to-Fit Workshop (Knit to Fit Workshop) and The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook: Dyeing, Painting, Spinning, Designing, Knitting.  Lynne is an author, has contributed to Spin Off magazine, Threads, and Knitty.com, and truly is an innovator in the world of spinning and knitting.  Stop by the shop or give us a ring at 615-354-1007 to sign up today!

Shapeshifter Mountain

Every year Tennessee’s winter palette amazes me. Recently I’ve been out and about a lot, up and down the mountain. From the valley, the blue violet plateau provides a dichroic backdrop for the glowing straw and green pear colored fields. Red ochre earth radiates through black plum cotton stalks, mint and sage lichens illuminate bare taupe and mauve groves. Here on the mountain the landscape changes with the weather. A wet Sewanee is completely different from a dry Sewanee. Lifting fog magically sweeps it’s lavender brush over peach, mint and mauve luminescences before the sun returns to paint the very same objects russet and blue. Under a leaden sky awaiting the pink promise of snow, tan leaves dim to deep raisin surrounding almost black oak trunks, dark and brooding. They aren’t this color any other time. When the sun hides behind a passing cloud, taupe trunks pale to confederate grey, silver fleeces spun by hand, the yarns knit in richly textured cable stitches. Greens are everpresent, in moss, laurels, hemlocks and stream soaked algae.

Hope you enjoy these "color tiles" of this magnificent mountain.

Time for a Face Lift

It's time for a face lift on the old blog. Tired of same old, same old. Please pardon the construction. 

Good Stuff

Twisted Sister Rachael just finished this awesome sleeper of a sweater for her DH Matt. This is the good stuff! How understated, how masculine, how organic. Kudos, Rachael. 

Rachael's pattern is an adaptation of Linda's One Piece Pullover from Twisted Sisters Knit Sweaters. The yarn, a natural fleece, lightly washed and spun in the grease. This sweater would suit a Columbia River bar pilot right down to the ground. And look at all that seed stitch. A sorcerer's task.

Rachael, I honor you for selfless knitting: loving your work and loving your man. Fab and a half.

I just posted three pairs of my handknitted cuffs for sale on Etsy. Many of you may know that this is a very rare occurrence. I almost never sell my handknits, but I'm making an exception right now because I've had such a great time knitting these cuffs that I want to knit more. The Moonflower cuffs are definitely art to wear. I won't be writing a pattern for this design. It's my own. The Star Flower Cuffs are also available in pattern form for those who want to knit them, but I thought I'd make them available for those who don't knit, since I've had requests for my gloves and wristers in the past. One pair is in cushy chunkyweight two ply handspun, the other in chic and lively active twist (see how the petals curl back like real flower petals?). These are all spun and knit by my own hand, with an enclosed card including handwritten description and signed by the artist. All the fiber comes from my own line. I'm really stoked about these beautiful cuffs, their beauty, each with their unique hand, all of them soft, all of them made with my noteworthy attention to finishing detail.

More Alice

More Alice

posted 1 day ago (Monday, January 12) by Sheepishgranny

reply to lizzydoone's post #31

33

"You are old, Father William, the young man said 

and your hair has become very white 
And yet you incessantly knit in your bed. 

In fact you are knitting all night.

In my youth, Father William replied to his son, 

I had nothing to keep my hands busy. 
But now that I knit, I create and have fun. 

Without it, I’d surely feel dizzy."

posted less than a minute ago, edited less than a minute ago by Lizzydoone

reply to Sheepishgranny's post #33

36

more Father William……

“You are old,” said the youth, “one would hardly suppose

that your body was as steady as ever.

Yet you balance a needle on the end of your nose.

What made you so awfully clever?”

“I have knit since my childhood and crocheted as well

my hands have held wool in all weather.

What’s more I write patterns and edit to sell

And it’s kept my mind glued to it’s tether.”

Call Alice

 

The following is a thread from our Twisted Friends Group on Ravelry. It’s too good not to share, so here goes.

 All of this started when Jane was overjoyed at having procured a reservation for lodging at Harrisville for my annual workshop this August. She expressed her joy at solving the problem of too many stairs by quoting (with a twist) from Jabberwocky, out of  Alice’s Adventures Through the Looking Glass:

 

“And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?

Come to my arms, my beamish boy!

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

She chortled in her joy”.

 

As a long time fan of Lewis Carroll, I took the bait:

posted 3 days ago (Wednesday, January 7) reply to Sheepishgranny's post #21

 

“Oh, frabjous day indeed!!! Callooh, callay!

Gonna see you again,

Come an August day!

We’ll meet, we’ll greet on level ground,

A whole new experience to be found.”

 

Ah! A fish on the line! Jane replied:

 posted 2 days ago (Thursday, January 8) reply to lizzydoone's post #22

“Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the spinners wheels,

And the knitting raths outgrabe.

 

Guess what I did?

 reply to Sheepishgranny's post #23

 

“How doth the little crocodile

Improve his shining tail?

He knits the waters of the Nile

Into each golden scale.

 

How cheerfully he seems to grin

With needles in his claws

And pulls each length of yarn along

With gently smiling jaws.

 

Now thoroughly warmed up and well oiled, Jane replied:

 posted 1 day ago (Friday, January 9) reply to lizzydoone's post #24

 

Awesome, Lynne… This is fun

 

“The Walrus and the Carpenter

Were stepping out a piece;

They wept like anything to see

Such quantities of fleece.

‘If this were ours, we wouldn’t care,

We’d spin it in the grease.’

 

‘If seven maids with seven wheels

Spun it for half a year,

Do you suppose,’ the Walrus said,

‘That they could get it clear?’

‘I doubt it,’ said the Carpenter,

And shed a bitter tear.

 

Wow! Hard act to follow. And yet…

 posted 1 day ago (Friday, January 9) reply to Sheepishgranny's post #25

 

“Twinkle, twinkle, mystery batt,

I won you from a door prize hat.

 

I wonder what with you to ply.

Will you felt? Will I cry?

 

If so above the world you’ll fly,

Like a tea tray in the sky.”

 

Volley received and returned:

posted about 9 hours ago, edited about 9 hours ago, reply to lizzydoone's post #26

 

“Tweedledum and Tweedledee

Were knitting up a storm.

The snows were mounting ‘gainst the house

And they wanted to be warm.

 

Tweedledum said Tweedledee

Had swiped his nice new needles…

So furiously did they battle then;

T’was the end of the two Tweedles…”

 

And probably of their needles………..

 

 With this last volley I take the playing field to my blog where more can enjoy this wordy feast, and maybe even join the game.

 posted less than a minute ago,  reply to Sheepishgranny's post #27

 

“Speak roughly to your allergies

and beat them when they sneezes

They only does it to annoy

Because they knows it teases.

 

Alpaca, cashmere, goats ahoy!

They all gives me the wheezes.

But I can thoroughly enjoy

the silk worm when it pleases.

 

And even so I love to toy

With Blue-Faced Leicester fleeces.”

The Dragon Wins Again

Every year I tack on an addendum to my list of New Year's resolutions. "Try not to accumulate more stuff." It should really be at the top of the list but it always takes second, third, tenth place to other worthy self made promises. Notice the wording.  "Try." Only a woos would chose this term. More forceful terms are necessary, such as: "Do Not Accumulate More Stuff." or better yet: "Accumulate more stuff on pain of death." And I don't mean just yarn. Or fiber. If our entire collection of coffee mugs is clean it doesn't fit in the narrow cupboard reserved for java jugs. And that's a narrow space for a reason. Give me room and I'll fill it.

So last Monday, armed with the addendum resolution which is teetering on top of a tall stack of other well-intentioned goals, I toddled off to Huntsville, Al for a monthly Cost Co buying frenzy. Know that the small University town where I live lies miles from urban civilization. It takes an hour in every direction to break out of the prison of Walmart and Mackos. The closest Cost Co is in Huntsville, 49 miles on winding rural Tennessee and Alabama backroads. The nearest Starbucks is in Manchester, a 20 minute drive in the opposite direction towards Nashville on the Interstate. I rarely go there, as in "how rarely do you buy salt" rarely. So when I found myself wandering into a Starbucks in Huntsville to fortify my brain cells for the Cost Co adventure, the sleeping dragon in charge of amassing and safeguarding my stash suddenly awakened. As anyone who has ever read the Hobbit knows, dragons are serious about their stuff and being born in the Chinese year of the Dragon, I'm doomed to allied with the great lizard. Add the fact that I have five planets in Taurus, including the Sun and Venus, ruling planet of the MOST acquisitive zodiac sign and you can see that the deck is massively stacked against this puny addendum resolution, which trembles precariously towards a precipitous fall like Yertle the Turtle balancing on a stack of 100 of his closest friends. 

But I'm stubborn and I say to myself, "NO MORE MUGS." Ha! I gather myself into my psychic girdle. I feel invincible. I stride to the counter to order my latte. But wait! What's that on the shelf? A tasteful grouping of white mugs. Pah! White mugs have to be more than good to catch my eye. But, no. This mug is embossed with cables and ribs. 

@#!^. 

How often do all the stash monsters conspire to provide the complete compendium of stash worthy items in a single object? The stack of resolutions crumples like an outmoded Las Vegas hotel upon detonation. The clerk looked at me strangely. How could he know that the reason I looked so blown away wasn't from a serious need for caffiene, but because I had just lost a battle with a dragon and that there was a horrible mess to clean up in my inner landscape?

BTW, notice that the knitting on this lovely mug is worked from the top down. I wonder if the mug designer noticed.

Star Flower Cuffs

I am totally in love with these easy to knit cuffs, inspired by my Starry Nite Scarf. You can find the pattern for sale at my Etsy Store.  I'm wearing them when I spin, knit, write at the computer. They never get in the way, never restrict my movement. And they are so quick to knit. Using less than 100 yards of yarn, you can find many yarns ready and waiting in your stash. This pattern has instructions for both versions shown here, one in heavy worsted weight and one in sport weight handspun. I used two colorways of LV ltd for Three Waters Farm Blue-faced Leicester fiber to spin the worsted weight yarn; "Lounge Lizard" and "African Sunset", one ply each plied together into a two ply handspun. For the sport weight cuffs I used the same fiber in the "Delphiniums" colorway.

She Did It Again

Lori did it again!

Here's her second version of my Starry Nite Scarf. Lori spun most of the handspun yarns featured here from merino cashmere rovings I dyed last year. She spun the yarn in the Sierras on vacay, and saved them for the perfect project. I love the turquoise accents. Bold. Graphic.

Amazingly, she finished scarf #2 four days after finishing scarf #4. That's a quick knit. See her full story on her blog.

Lori Knits Starry Nite

Lori Lawson just finished her own version of Starry Nite. It's so amazing to see these colors...so different from the ones I used...and so beautiful. She used her own roving for the most part, but she tells me there is one square of yarn that I spun somewhere in here. I'm quessing it's the deep charcoal, sage and lavender one, right Lori? This is gorgeous work, worthy of some mighty inspiration!

If you haven't been to my Etsy shop lately you haven't seen the new sock yarns I've posted. Also, fibers for Starry Nite are available at Three Waters Farm Etsy Shop. Mary Ann is currently compiling fiber kits for this scarf, so keep checking.

Happy Holidays to all.

Fiber Available for Starry Nite

Starry Nite is my newest design and already it's becoming the most popular pattern on my Etsy store. I designed and knit the original with my own 2-ply handspun BFL yarn as an example for my color classes so they could have a very cool project to knit with their color experiments. Now you can buy the fibers I used in the original scarf at Three Waters Farm's Etsy store. I used 6 colorways: Mediterranean, African Sunset, Lounge Lizard, Radicchio, City Nights and Black Hollyhocks. Of course as always, I threw in extra colorways here and there. Can't help it. But you can get a very similar effect from using as few as three of the above colorways. By plying them on themselves and on each other you can spin at least 6 different constantly changing coordinating yarns. My two-ply worsted weight Blue Faced Leicester wool scarf weighs 5 oz.