Another hap

So...someone to whom I'm related doesn't read my blog, so it makes no difference that I post something regarding her Christmas gift...

She travelled in Skye a couple of years ago and bought some yarn.  It is an itchy business...she couldn't tell me where exactly she's gotten it.

She tried to knit something with it, no luck, and "gifted" it to me.

My inclination was to do another hap...as a gift back to her.

I doubled the yarn.  The yarn is cream with some brown.  Makes me think of Scottish Blackface.  Who the heck knows...

I knit a hap square, and added churro handspun from Cassie to do the "traditional"  feather and fan lace border.  Luckily the natural colors look OK together.

You know, on a cold night with no central heating, this would be quite warm!  It's 4" by 4'

Knitting Yowes

Having completed almost all of my holiday knitting, I am feeling free to pursue a couple of new projects. I was captivated by Kate Davies' Rams and Yowes. (Thank you Kate!)  So glad to know that I was misspelling "ewe" at least by Scottish standards!

I'm only several inches into it but here is a sample couple of rows.

I have Maddie and Steeleye Span to thank for my understanding of how to pronounce "yowe" (we call it a "ewe" on this side of the pond)...

The simple repeats of the rams and the yowes remind me of stranded stuff I did in the 80's...and also of Princess Diana's sheep sweater...

(Apparently this pattern was published in McCall's in 1984).

ANYWAY I am  knitting this mostly from handspun.  A couple of years ago I purchased a whole navaho-churro sheep's worth of creamy white roving from Cassie and Kurt at Little Creek Plantation here in South Carolina.  It's a LOT of roving and I wasn't sure what to do with it, especially given that it's a bit itchy next to the skin.

I have found that if I ponder my stash and think about and search for patterns, I can come up with a great combination and this is one of those. (There needs to be a name for this process of matching other than "creativity.")  My gauge is larger than called for but heck, it's a blanket, why not make it big??

Speaking of Scotland, I came upon this fabulous video at youtube.

This an an old video of croft life and sheep on Eriskay, in the Hebrides.  This provoked me to learn a little more about the Highland Clearances which despite having been to Scotland I did not learn about.

Spinning churro

I am not a very good spinner, and am lousy at maintaining my wheel.  When it comes down to it, I often enjoy knitting more with commercial yarns.  Consistent tension and drawing are not my aptitudes.  However, I love the process of holding the fiber and drawing it out. 

I don't often use my drop spindles, but I have a few of them.  I really am fond of my Turkish spindle.  I LOVE that is makes a center pull ball as I wind on.  Mine was crafted by Ed Jenkins.  Beautiful wood and well balanced.

Matching a project to handspun or more precisely spinning enough for a particular project is also not my forte.  I can't see myself ever spinning enough for a sweater.  I'd rather just spin, and then do a top down shawl or somesuch, and hope I have enough for a lace edge.  I got lucky with my spring shawl.

I may have helped to alleviate this challenge with some Navaho churro roving, because I have so much of it.  My friend Cassie and her husband Kurt have a farm called Little Creek Plantation in Brunson SC, and keep  churros.  Son R and I visited a couple of years ago.  Here's a photo in her barn

and here's a photo of Cassie that I love; she's giving some poor sheep a dose of antibiotic

Here is information on churros from Cassie and Kurt's website, and here is some from wikipedia.

About two years ago I bought a whole sheep's worth of fleece, it's lovely creamy yellowy white.  Somewhere I have the name of the ewes whose fleece this is.  I have alot, and I do mean alot of it.  So, if I persist, I should have enough to do something and finish it, including lace edge.  The photo below is one of maybe 5 large balls of roving that I have.

I have spun some on the wheel, but this month I started some using my Turkish spindle. It's not the softest type of fleece, but maybe it's lack of slippery quality makes it a little easier to control.

Here's a little ball on the spindle

And here it is with the spindle taken apart and the ball slipped off.  It's so clever.