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.

Hat Trick

My two sons are headed to various outdoor adventures in the north this summer.  One will be in Alaska, the other Idaho.  I undertook the Classic World War II Watch Cap for one.  Previous musings are here.  It didn't fit the intended son; but fit the other one.

Lion Brand, Vanna's choice. I did a little 1x1 cable in the middle of the 6 stitch panel, for visual interest.

Thanks to a reader who suggested that the iris that I photo'd in the same post is iris virginica, a flag iris.

Vintage Knitting: Grandma Helen's Knitted Scarf

Grandma Helen taught me to knit. She was a good knitter, a functional knitter. We asked for sweaters, ponchos, she delivered.

Helen was good at math, having worked as a bookkeeper, and she had that sense of order and concentration that knitting often requires.

Last night as I was looking through lots of patterns for Rogue, (which I vow to do this year) I found this piece of paper

No idea where Helen got it the pattern, although I have a number of old Bernat books that were hers. Clearly, she hand copied it for me after I said yes, I'd like a copy. I've no recollection of this!

I recall reading an article by Elizabeth Zimmerman long ago.  She recalled a historical point in her life.  Vogue (I think) had sent her a knitting pattern with only directions, no photo.  I think I recall that it was an Aran sweater.  That's what this feels like:  no photo, no clue. 

So tonight I started it.  Looks from a cursory reading like it might  be an ascot sort of scarf.

Using some dk weight 80% baby alpaca and 20% silk that I got in at a shop in Arequipa, Peru last summer.  It's awful soft, what one needs around the neck.

Here's what I've got so far;  more to follow at some point.  Yes, I'll make a PDF available in case you're interested!

Kid Silk Haze Shawl No. 3: Garden Shawl

I am addicted.  Period.  I bought more KSH, this time some rosy corally pink.

I  bought Clara Parkes' The Knitters Book of Wool simply to do Evelyn A. Clark's Prairie Rose Lace Shawl.  The KSH and the Prairie Rose were not a great match for me.  I was OK until row 15, on that row the pattern isn't  bilaterally symmetrical (doesn't mirror itself) on either side of the spine. (Sorry about the anatomical terms but if you knit lace you'll understand).  With the KSH, I can't read the lace well, as it is so fine and the halo/haze gets in the way.

So I switched to another of Evelyn's confections, this one the Garden Shawl from her book Knitting Lace Triangles.  I really love this little book and it has helped me to understand lace triangle construction. 

So far, so good.  I can read the lace.

A couple of years ago I bought some small mulberry trees, hoping to someday have a large grove with which to feed some silk worms.  No, I don't yet have them, mostly because the tree that I put in the ground hasnt done so well;  something may be eating it.  The one still in a large pot does better.  Son B did an artful photo of a mulberry leaf...maybe someday I'll have those silkworms.

Phoebe Snow passed away this week;  life is short:  enjoy it!

Spring Joy

I love the Easter holiday with its old Pagan symbols, especially the Easter eggs.

Last year I had the time to knit some.  I found this pattern at Ravelry and knit them up, stuffing them with plastic eggs, which COULD hold some smaller chocolate eggs.  

There are a lot more knitted Easter egg patterns up at Ravelry than last year.

I treated myself to some Royal Copenhagen porcelain eggs this year, found at Amazon.

As mentioned previously, I've had a hard time getting iris to bloom in my yard, it's either the warm climate or bad soil or both.  Last year I had an idea and transplanted some Caesar's Brother into some enriched soil in a pot.  I got rewarded for my efforts this year:

I'm now going to enjoy the miracles of spring and hoe the garden.

Lilac Leaf kidsilk Haze

It is done.  Nancy Bush's Lilac Leaf Shawl, from that most cherished Knitted Lace of Estonia.

Mette kinda guessed that it was Estonian...the nupps gave it away.  I used a contrasting oaky kinda color for the border to offset the very very pale ballet pink.

Wish I knew why I love knitting this type of lace the most.  Won't someone please lead another knitter's tour to Estonia one of these years??  Nancy??

Here is Rowan's latest lineup of Kidsilk Haze Colors

Vintage WWII Hat, Bonnet Drama Notes, Thoughts on a Ditch Iris

I  like to knit from vintage patterns, and have a bit of a collection from when I frequented garage sales and flea markets.  That's a hobby that I will have to rediscover after I retire.

My friend Bob had this nice hat FO on Ravelry, his "World War II Cap."  The pattern is from a Bucilla book from 1940, which someone whose website is here kindly transcribed for all. Here's my version, I confess, in Vanna's Choice from Michael's

As son R and son B are heading out for summer adventures in northern climes this summer, I am trying to finish new hats for them, and this looked like it would do the trick for R, who asked for a "beanie."  Now, I don't think of a beanie as warm hat, but that's what this is called.

And on a completely different, subject...like... where have I been?  It took this article reprinted in a local paper for me to learn that what I am addicted to is the "bonnet drama"...I guess I'm more of a  Janeite than a Charlottan...nevertheless, bring on the Bronte....

on this general subject, do try this, you won't regret it

I've not embedded a video before so if it doesn't work try this link.You may also like this,  made me roll with laughter, but be warned, there is language content if you are sensitive to that sort of thing...unhappily, "Jane Austen's Fight Club" video has been removed from youtube.  It was also rip roaring fun.

 indeed, you may wish purchase your own Jane Austen Action Figure

I have had lousy luck growing irises here in SC.  It's been 5 years in this house, and the only regular repeat bloomer is what a former coworker called a "Ditch Iris," in other words, one that you dig up from a ditch.  

My sister called me several years ago and said "there are irises by the side of the road 10 markers from the hospital (where I was working at the time)".  I loaded a shovel in the back of the Honda and started counting markers.  No, it was no one's identifiable property.  I stopped and hastily dug some up.  Wild iris?  Formerly cultivated? 
 

PLEASE let me know if you do.  

Dinner last weekend:  saffron risotto, tomatos, basil, local shrimp