Amari Shawl

Just finished the Amari shawl.  Three shades of green batts from The Fibre Fairy are now spun and the shawl is finished and being blocked.  I increased the size so I could use all of my yarn. Got a bit nervous at the end. I used all but four yards. That was close!  Very happy with it. Blocked out to 25 X 60 inches.
Progress photos:

I bought some gradient batts from The Fibre Fairy. Three shades of green that are blends of Merino, Shetland Lamb, Polworth, Alpaca, Silk, and Firestar. Wonderful stuff!
I spun the darkest first. Today I started on the lightest and then I will spin the medium shade. I will do a bobbin of each shade and then ply on itself. I want to knit a shawl that is shaded from light at the top to dark on the bottom with the yarn. Not sure just yet what pattern I will use. It will depend on the yardage I get.

This photo shows all three shades of green.

Darkest in progress

Lightest. I tear the batts into thinner strips before spinning.

This shows the darkest and the lightest. I must say that AJs' batts are so wonderful to spin. They practically spin themselves!

Blocking the Bitterroot Shawl

I have finished the Bitterroot shawl. I worked on it mostly in the evenings and had to rip back more than once. Even so, I enjoyed knitting it and putting the beads on with a crochet hook worked like a charm. Better than stringing the beads onto the yarn and playing slide around. As you can see from the close up below,  I need to put some pins into the edge loops yet, but had to get a picture and post while I had time. I still have quite a bit of the baby camel and silk handspun, so may do another shawl from it. This one is 58 inches across and 32 inches down the back with 47 inches on each side. Not sure yet if this one will be for me, a gift or for sale. On to the next project............

Bitterroot Shawl in progress

Going from this handspun baby camel and tussah silk along with some bronze beads to ......

 knitting in progress.....................

When finished will look like this.........
The Bitterroot Shawl from Knittyspin Winter issue 2009

Why yes, I do knit socks.....

I have been knitting socks for many years. Once long ago I read a pattern and when I got to the turn the heel instructions I balked. "Oh no, I do not think I can do that" went through my head. One day I saw and article in Spin-Off by Celia Quinn on knitting boot socks. With the article and the Elizabeth Zimmerman book that Celia mentions I decided to take the plunge. I figured if I got stuck I could ask for help.One step at a time is good in many situations. Go forward until you are at the end or get stuck and either figure it out, or ask for help. I managed to knit a pair of socks following the instructions even when I thought things did not look right. It worked! I was then on the path to being a sock knitter. I even had a pair of hand spun dog hair and wool socks published in Spin-Off.  Now these many years later I always have at least one pair in progress so I have something to do while waiting in a doctor's office or at the auto repair shop, etc. I used double points for a very long time and finally tried two socks at a time on two circular needles and now also the magic loop on one circular. A few years ago I tried toe up and that is my preferred method. Three pair in progress in the picture are 3 ply hand spun BFL that I had blended with 20% nylon at the mill. I dyed the yarn in balls, sitting them first into one color and then turning the balls over into another color. This is a fun way to dye and I like the results.  From top left the socks are; Jojoland Melody, (magic loop)   Drops Fabel Superwash, (magic loop) and the other three are my hand spun. (double points)  The first pair was done with peacock and old rose, second is a mix of color to cover up the screaming orange from the first dip into the pot. The last is done in purple and forest green. However, there are only a few spots of green showing, it turned into a nice gray where the dye mixed. Not bad, but not what I was aiming for either. I will be playing more with this technique, but first I must get more sock yarn spun.

New look

Hello Blog.
I have neglected you for a while so today I gave you a new look. Hope you like it. I have been busy taking pictures and putting things into my etsy shop. http://etsy.com/shop/TheLaceShepherdess Here are just a few things.

This is a busy time of year with the holidays coming and lots of gifts to make. Looking forward to cooler weather and more spinning and knitting time.

Went to Lambtown USA on October 1st with some gals from my group. Had a great day and the weather was wonderful. I was good and only bought one alpaca fleece.

Wine and Wool

Yesterday was an adventure of wine tasting and wool spinning. A local winery was a great setting for demonstrating to the public and getting acquainted with some new fiber people.

Tivy Mt Vintners.

Cool in the shade.

Knitting and wine do go together.

Although it looks like the wine made her do it, she did not have a drop.

New Shop

I did it! Today I opened a shop on etsy. I am feeling my way and will be adding things as I go. I am sure that there will be some tweaking of things for a while. This is exciting and scary too. If you want to take a look the addy is http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheLaceShepherdess

Playing with pictures

I will be opening an etsy shop. I am playing with pictures to show what I have to offer. So this is sort of a test to see how things might look. I will announce the opening when it happens. Please check back.

Taken indoors with light from above.

Taken outdoors using the sun.

Taken outdoors in morning sunlight. I think this gives pretty true color of the wool.