FO: Estonian Lilies of the Valley, A bit on the Wales trip, and A visit to the Fiberguild of the Savannahs show

I finally completed the first project in the "subcategory" (haha) of "Yarn Purchased in Wales in 2013." Why yes, as we all do, I subcategorize my yarn collection in my head.  

This is Lily of the Valley Lace Shawl  from Pam Allen's Lace Style.  ( I love the Pam Allen era Interweave Knits magazine and the fact that her beautiful daughter, Caitlin Fitzgerald, graces the cover of this book).  The pattern is of course a Nancy Bush Estonian-inspired creation.

The yarn is Collinette Jitterbug in Wasabi. While in Wales we visited Colinette's gift shop in Montgomery, and later her store (and dyeing facility) in Llanfair Caereinion, 
Powys, website here.

Here is a map showing Montgomery and Llanfair Caereinion, note where Welshpool is.

Above is a bigger map of Wales with Welshpool as your reference point; it's to the left of Shrewsbury. Yes, this is a hard-to-see map; Welshpool is just to the right of the "N" in "Cambrian Mountains" if your'e interested.

Below is the store front of Colinette's gallery in Montgomery

Here is yours truly at the top of the street in Montgomery…on fiber vacation, what could be better??

And here is the storefront of Colinette Yarns in Llanfair Caereinion

The store held a riot of colorful yarns, but I loved the soft spring green of the Jitterbug Wasabi, so appropriate for the lily of the valley pattern. 

A bit closer to home, the Fiber Guild of the Savannahs held their annual show at  the Coastal Discovery Museum close by in Hilton Head.  It was titled "Fibers Glorious Fibers!" and I went to have a peek.  I did not take photos of works of art as I did not have artists' permissions, but here are a couple of shots

I love all antique spinning wheels

Here is the handwoven finished product from the "Sheep to Shawl" that I viewed the weaving of in Savannah two months ago…

On the garden front, one of the mulberry trees that I got as a birthday gift was settled from the pot into the yard last fall.  I may never have silkworms to feed it's branches to, however it's gift to me was is the first year of berries, perhaps my reward from liberating it from it's way outgrown pot!

Wolle's shawl and Sheepy Birthday Art

I finished Heaven Scent by Boo Knits.  It is lovely in the Wolle's that was gifted to me by Deb!

Now I am not a big fan of cotton yarn but this is very pretty.  I did have a very difficult time reading the lace and keeping track of where I was. And I'm not sure what I did at the top border but it's very tight…next time perhaps…read the directions a little more closely!

Why yes, it is my birthday week.  Expletive deleted.  I gifted myself with some art that I had seen in Wales: 

This is by Helen Elliott, spotted on a wall in one of our lovely accommodations.  Thank you again, Joyce James. It is 12 x 12 and I just love it. You can commission one yourself at  Helen's website

It goes well with the mermaid theme in my bathroom…

And then, to my surprise, my Mom and Dad gave me a painting by a local artist,  Emily Watson. The scene is from Chincoteague.  I love this one too! 

New mini triloom and some art

I have wanted a tri-loom forever and lucky I found a small version to practice with, not pricey…it's small, 7" at the hypotenuse. I'm thinking jewelry of some sort... 

While pondering that, I went to the Savannah College of Art and Design Sidewalk Arts Festival last Saturday, here are some of my favorites

Ginsberg

Misplaced snake art

un peu de Monet

where I didn't go in Spain, darn it...

 Frida

Alpaca with yarn…I had to call the artist's attention to the fact that I am wearing a silver alpaca around my neck...

The man…gonna reread

Caterina!

Birthday Gift: Silken Straw

I knit a small scarf-shawl as a birthday gift

Doesn't the color look lovely against the spring green?

The  yarn is Silken Straw from Alchemy Yarns of Transformation

 

The yarn was a bit like knitting with … yes …straw;  I found myself pulling down on it when I couldn't see my stitch to make it bigger.  It's lovely and a bit "crunchy" in texture.

The pattern is an old standby, Forest Canopy by Susan Lawrence.  I tried a more complex lace pattern but this yarn is impossible to frog so I went with something that I knew would work and likely not need too much frogging!

A bit similar to knitting with this all cotton from Wolle's: 

(how I spent Easter morning before house cleaning)

Oatland Island Sheep

Had a grand time last weekend at Oatland Island Wildlife Center at their annual sheep shearing and fiber demonstrations.  Oatland is a center for "conservation, education, discovery" on the outskirts of Savannah.  I was surprised to see that they have many animals including two bison, wolves, a cougar, and two Shetland sheep, both males, who somehow manage to survive our hot summers!

The Fiber Guild of the Savannahs generously donates their time to do a "sheep to shawl" demonstrating all aspects of fiber prep from shearing to weaving, in support of Oatland and the fiber arts.
I've watched sheep shearing a couple times in my life but have never seen such a tender loving (and slow) production of it. The women are using those old fashioned hand shears that my Dad used to use to trim the edges of the lawn!

Someone's nephew practicing his hand carding…he promised me that when he grows up he will have a farm with four sheep and that Aunt Wendy could keep the wool.  An hour later after having so much fun at this event he revised his total to five sheep….we have not yet discussed the breed….

There was spinning of last year's fleece

Here's an antique wool wheel, begging for some restoration

Ginned cotton 

The shawl was actually woven from last year's fiber, which had been mill-prepped. I was expecting to see a lovely lanolin-y hand knit triangle produced on the spot, but that will be at another event!

There was also some dyeing going on;  here's an indigo pot

My darling nephew cracking black walnuts which then went into the dyepot

I would love to do this over an open fire!

And here are some other interesting sights 

This Scottish "shotgun" style cabin is a creation of Scottish southern forebears. I had no idea that the "shotgun" style building, where front and back doors are in line, and often seen in our Low Country beach homes, was Scottish in origin. It was moved from another location in Georgia and restored, it dates to to 1830's

Baking cornbread in a fireplace, the concave lid has hot coals placed on it

 A crusher for sugar cane

The cane is then boiled in a huge vat, they actually still do this and sell the cane syrup

The Coastal Empire Beekeeper's Association has been busy here. Here bees are getting a drink of water, the stones add needed minerals

Bison…no the soft under coat is not harvested

Sleeping wolf

Eucalyptus Dyepot

In my travels on natural dyeing,  I ran into this lovely post on using Euca (might be the name of my next cat!) as a source for orange dye.  The aforementioned blogger notes that Eucalyptus pulverulenta

is known to provide a natural orange…and that is what she used.  However there are many (like 700) species of euca existing.  That notwithstanding, I know that there is a euca at my sister's house.  It has kind of grown out of control but in driving around in the Low Country I do see these, and they seem to be twisty bendy kind of trees.  (The branches are at the top of this rather bad photo…but you get the gist)

So, I motored off to my sister's in search of.  Now, we all know that this has been a harsh winter all over the place.  I found my sister's tree with a number of freeze-dried branches;  she planted it a couple of years ago and it is now about 20 feet tall!  So, I clipped off a number of dried branches plus some fresh ones.  And mind you…I have NO CLUE as to the species...

Here is the heavenly smelling dye bath!

And here is a test dip of wool…oh my!!!

I had some silk roving. Poorly labelled, I don't think that there is any merino in it but I couldn't swear to it. Jennifer from whom I bought the roving a while back said that "silk takes dye really well." I had spun up a  bobbin's worth of single ply and separated it into two hanks. 

I did what I could do for a chemistry experiment as best I could:

1) First hank:  simmered in alum mordant pot for an hour (see sandalwood dye recipe for details)

2) Mordant free

The dyepot:  6.5 oz oz of euca, used small twigs and leaves

Several quarts of water.  I confess, I did not measure. It was the capacity of my crockpot dedicated dyepot plus at some point I added another quart. 

I simmered them for an hour with the euca still in…then let it sit overnight.  

If you don't want to ever buy Mucinex again…try inhaling a euco dyepot instead... Lovely.  But watch the cats and small children…it is a toxin if ingested!!

Here is the result:  lovely, wonderful…and possibly fugitive…the mordanted on the right  is duller and browner.  Unmordanted, probably fugitive, a fabulous coppery shiny thing.  Ah, but what fun!!!