Freshisle Fibers

Dyeing Surprises

Shall I start each and every post with the moaning and groaning of how little time I have or should I just let the lack of postings speak for themselves?  Rhetorical question.

I look after one of our local real estate agent's web site and lately I've been immersed in CSS style sheets and video tours.  I enjoy doing it and I love the learning of new stuff.  Video tours are the latest and greatest thing for showing off real estate listings.  They are pretty cool and it's sort of like actually walking through a home listing.  But they take time and that's left precious little for knitting and blogging.

I have been doing a bit of dyeing because I can leave the pot to simmer while I toil away on the computer editing the videos.

I have a freezer for keeping some of my natural dyestuffs and over the spring and early summer try to use them up before this season's flowers bloom.  In the past I've always achieved some shade of green with the flowers of red geraniums and alum mordant.  It hasn't seemed to matter if they were fresh or frozen, always a green.

Not this time.  Surprise, surprise.  This time I got the most beautiful shade of brown.  Almost a bronze colour.  The perfect Ravenclaw bronze if your mind tends to wander to all things Harry Potter!

The little knitting I've been up to has been putting the chart from the Gryffindor Lion Shadow Socks into a pair of mittens so I have Harry Potter knitting on my mind right now.  So far, so good.  And now I have the perfect bronze for the planned Ravenclaw projects.

Today's plans include supper preparations for Mother's Day and if the rain holds off, perhaps even a little work on the flower beds.  It's hard to believe that a month ago we had snow and yesterday dear hubby cut the grass for the first time.  Summer is finally here.

Stitches

My days are just flying by.  There's just never enough time in the day to do everything I want to do let alone everything that I need to do.  I've heard that it will just get worse the older I get.  Maybe.  Maybe I'm just a little slower at the actual doing part.

The best I can manage in the knitting department this week is some dishcloths. 

I've been practising different stitches for patterns.  Cruising through various stitch dictionaries, trying some of those, and tweaking some a bit as well.  I'm not very good at imagining what they will look like until I actually get the yarn and needles and knit them up.  Plus, it's always a surprise how different a stitch pattern will look when it's knit with different yarns or needle sizes.

The bottom left is the same stitch pattern I used for the Lake Huron Waves Wrap.  I think the one on the right is identical or very, very close to the stitch pattern in the famous Monkey socks and the top is a stitch pattern for a future shawl pattern.

All three cloths were knit from one 80 gram ball of Bernat Handicrafter, 100% Cotton, in Holiday Stripes - a fun self-striping cotton yarn perfect for Christmas.  They'll be tucked away in the gift pile and given away next Christmas.  Do I dare say, "One Christmas gift off the list" already!! 

Laura's Lace Socks Take 2

  The socks that took forever.   They're easy, the pattern is not complicated, and yet it's taken me a month to finish them.

But, at last they are done and after all that time, it was worth it.  I love them.  I think these ones I might actually keep for myself I love them so much.

Presenting Laura's Lace Socks - Take 2.

These ones are knit with SouthWest Trading Company's TOFUtsies in their new Limited Edition Collection - 50% superwash wool, 35% soysilk fibers, 22.5% cotton, 2.5% chitin, and lots of lovely lace.

I followed my same pattern as the originals that I knit with our own single ply yarn but made these a little bit shorter in the leg.  Better for summer!

Grocery shopping in our little Northern Ontario town is often challenging.  No one is starving by any means, but I hardly ever return home with everything that was on my list.  Fresh fruits and vegetables are hit and miss and there's rarely anything slightly exotic or different.  This changes slightly during the summer months with the influx of the tourists.

A sure sign that summer is around the corner is the improved variety of produce available to us.  So look what I found this week.  Purple potatoes!!

They were labeled blue potatoes and the skin was blue, but the insides are purple!!  My healthy food obsessed husband had read about them this past winter and about all their wonderful antioxidant properties but this was the first we had even seen them.

They are delicious.  Slightly creamier texture than regular white potatoes or even red potatoes, but very, very good.

They match my new socks!!!

Lake Huron Waves Wrap

I'm trying keep up with my test knitting friend.  She's knitting things up faster than I can get the patterns posted!

Presenting Lake Huron Waves Wrap.

For sale in the shop as a kit with pattern and yarn or pattern alone. I've succumbed to the craze of Ravelry and will eventually add the pattern for sale there as well.  We'll see how that works.

This is a wrap or shawl or even a large scarf, and easily modified to make narrower, wider, longer, or shorter.  Knit using two skeins of my own Freshisle Fibers Mixed Breed single ply yarn and on 3.25 mm needles.  The sample is knit in the Lake Huron colourway.

It's a reversible stitch pattern, appearing the same on both sides, and perfect for a shawl or scarf.

The waves were quite pronounced before washing.  I debated on blocking it, but in the end just tossed it in the washer and dryer without blocking.  The result is fabulous.  The waves flattened out a bit, but are still a little puffier than the rest of the shawl and it's so soft and warm.  I'm just a tiny bit biased, but I love our yarn!

We'll be working on a second sample with another more commercial yarn and I think it will work out well, too.

School is as madly busy as ever.  This is often the easiest term and usually seems to go by quite quickly.  It is speeding along, but this year it doesn't seem to be getting any easier.  Maybe May will be better than April was!

The one thing that's not demanding my time is the flower beds.  It's turned cold again and we even had snow on the deck for a little while this morning.  I'll wait until it warms up again to tackle the flowers.

Keep it Simple

Thank you for your understanding comments last time.  We're moving on and life is slowly returning to normal routines.

I completed a totally simple, totally mindless scarf last week.

Super big 15 mm needles, 24 stitches, straight garter stitch, and lumpy, bumpy, chunky yarn made for a cuddly, quick scarf with lots of texture.  The yarn is from last summer's Spinrite Tent Event and came in a huge un-labeled hank.  I couldn't resist the colours!

I have absolutely no need for another scarf so this one's going into the gift pile.  I have a lovely not-so-little pile of finished knitted items for 'someday' gifts.  Someday someone will need this, someday this will make the perfect present.

I missed the actual shearing of the sheep of one of our wool providers last week.  However, we did need to collect all that wonderful fleece and made a quick trip to pick it up.

So many clean and curious sheep.  So many adorable little lambs.

There's been much discussion recently in the news, in various knitting/fiber forums, and on television about being 'green', being environmentally friendly, eco-friendly.....  I think our yarn pretty much fits into that category.

These Suffolk sheep are vaccinated against pulpy kidney disease, are on a program for parasite control, and are fed grass and hay.  They are not dipped.  The fleece is processed into yarn without the use of acids or harsh chemicals.  And then there's their environment - they are Manitoulin Island sheep .  Clean, fresh air and fresh water are synonymous with Manitoulin.

These are incredibly well cared for and healthy sheep.

So while maybe Freshisle Fibers yarns can't be certified organic, in my opinion, they're awfully close.   

Rough Week

It's been a bit of a rough week in my little world.  A brother of our niece's husband has passed away.  The story has been in our local news.  I also have his son in my class at school so it's been especially difficult and complicated.  The funeral is tomorrow which hopefully will help to bring some closure.  May next week be brighter.

Spring - I think!

My days are speeding by.  No rest for the wicked!

I think it's spring.  I hope.  I actually have a few crocus up and blooming, the yard is finally and completely free of snow, and it's warm.  Warm enough for short sleeves and no coats at all.  I'm hoping it stays.

I finished the quick headbands in time for Saturday's birthdays.  One of our friends, the grandfather, and his granddaughter share the same birthday.  Pretty neat!

I used big needles and big, chunky yarn so that I'd be sure to have them done.

I watched and watched the drying shawl, checked it every few hours but it didn't dry any faster.  So I left it two whole days just to be safe.

It's amazing.

I should knit more lace.

The yarn is Ella's handspun mohair, It's A Wrap pattern (.pdf file) and I knit until almost all the yarn was gone.

It's huge and cozy and light and fluffy.  AND I love it.

Good thing it's not for me!  It's for Ella, the wonderful lady who spun this ages ago.  I hope it keeps her cozy.

I'm not sure where I would wear it.  I have a couple of shawls I've knit for myself, and while I love the finished results, I hardly every wear them.  In spite of this, I was cruising the stash on the weekend looking at all the lace yarns I've purchased and planning another one.

School is super busy and our annual spring concert is this week.  As well, we have another Professional Activity day and preparations for workshops and meetings to get ready for Friday.

With the snow finally gone and the weather quite nice, I spent quite a bit of time this weekend on cleaning up the yard and the flower beds.

I think most things survived the winter including some of the new dye plants I had put in last spring - two new coreopsis, yarrow, and the rhododendron.  There should be lots to dye with this summer.

Transforming

I do finish things.  It just takes me a year.  I call it living on 'Manitoulin Time'.

The It's A Wrap shawl started eons ago is finally off the needles. 

What a lovely lump of lace.  It's handspun mohair and quite cozy and warm.

Washed ever so carefully and pinned to death, the blocking took forever and it's still drying.  This is the tedious but enthralling part of lace knitting.  The transformation of a so-so pattern and lump of yarn to a vision of loveliness.  All those perfect little diamonds and lacy holes are so visually appealing.

Does a watched shawl ever dry?

I'm hoping our weather has changed for the better, too.  The snow is melting, it's sunny, and I can actually wear my spring coat and rubber boots.

I've also been mucking around with headband patterns again and measuring the circumference of my head, my family's heads, even my students at school.  But what about those little ones?  I don't have a two year old handy to measure.  The Internet is a wonderful place.  There's even a growth chart for infants to show head circumference.  Amazing.

We have birthday celebrations coming up and I need presents.  Fast.

Headbands are fast.  I hope.

Focus

The weather didn't improve much yesterday.

It's sun shiny bright today but yesterday was snow, snow, and more snow.  Everything is covered in white stuff - AGAIN!!!

Maybe that's to blame for my lack of focus.  A little of this and a little of that.  I work a little on a sock, a few more rows on a shawl, dye a little, spin a little, work on patterns a little, and then back again.

I've been cruising through Ravelry's pattern database and looking at the most popular patterns.  From what I can tell, socks and lace shawls are the patterns that have the most projects.  Mittens are right up there as well.

I know I knit more socks than anything else.  They're small, they're different every time - different yarn, different stitch pattern - and although I'm sooooo slow, I do manage to finish a pair of socks in a reasonable amount of time.

I have sock, mitten, and scarf patterns available, both free and for sale.  I don't have any for shawls or wraps.  Yet.

I've been working on the pattern writing and my friend/colleague/test knitter is working on the knitting part.  I'll have some of those new patterns available soon.

Question - What do you knit the most of?  Is it socks?

I must find my focus somewhere today.  It's tax time and I have mounds of paper to sort through.  Not a fun job.

Enough Already

Enough already.

So much for my weekend dyeing plans outside.

It's April 11.

Freezing rain warning.  School buses canceled today.

Poor little robins that thought it was spring.

This is why we are obsessed with the weather.

Tonight I'm cuddling by the fire, knitting, and wishing for winter to end.