Spinning Hair of the Moe and Locks

It's been a busy spinning week. This is some awesome 50/50 mohair and wool that I picked up at Maryland Sheep and Wool from Persimmon Tree Farm. I spun it into balanced singles and I plan to knit a small shawl or wrap with it. It's beautiful fall colors so I will save it for later on in the year. The mohair is very soft and bloomed nicely when I washed the finished yarn. I have to say this was one of the easiest rovings that I have spun. Wish I had picked up more of it since it spun so fast I was disappointed to be done with it.

These are some really nice dyed locks that I picked up at a fiber shop while we were in Maine. The locks were a little matted and still had a good amount of lanolin left in them. After fooling around with them and the flick carder, I decided to spin some novelty yarn rather than to fight with tangled locks. I was surprised and happy with the yarn, it's very nubby and has curly locks sticking out here and there. It should make great edging for a hat or mittens or maybe a bag.

It seems like I've been working on the Low Tide Cross Over Vee for ages, and with much relief and happy knitting/spinning satisfaction, it's finally done! I really enjoyed starting with raw fleece and ending with a completed sweater.

I'm waiting for special order moose antler buttons to arrive for the sweater to be really completed. They are being made in Maine, which is where I grew up. The pattern for this sweater was designed by a lady from Maine as well, I thought that was pretty cool.

The whole sweater is knitted in stocking knit, so the knitting went really quickly. The finishing took some time as there is a hand spun lace crochet edge:

The lace edge is 50/50 llama and hand dyed alpaca. The picture doesn't show the color well on the lace, but it's gray, blue and brown. It reminds of the rocky coast in Maine. Can you tell Ive been a little homesick lately? I'm dying for some LOBSTER. Mostly for a a lobster roll, that's cold (cooked) lobster mixed with little bit of mayo, possibly a small amount of lettuce served on a grilled hot dog bun. I had one at a Red Sox game one time that was served on croissant and the lobster meat had dill mixed with it. Now that was wicked good :)

The Sedalia Fiber Festival this past weekend was great! Dana did a great job with the organization and promotion. There were a large number of vendors and many, many more shoppers than in previous years. I hear rumors that next year it could possibly be a two day event which would draw even more vendors and shoppers.

I came home with a new wheel, she's a Kromski Symphony and I just love her! She's smooth as glass and fast as a NASCAR driver heading towards the checkered flag! I purchased her from Mary Ellen of I See Spots Farm.

This is some kid mohair that Ive spun on her so far. Its the softest kid mohair Ive ever felt and feels a lot like cashmere.

This is the brightest lime green Jacob yarn I have ever seen! Had to get, but am undecided as to what to knit out of it. Am thinking of maybe mittens or a hat.

A quick update on the Low Tide Crossover Vee sweater. I finished the two fronts and back and kitchnered them together. It looked a little small when I was knitting it, and it turned out it was a lot small when I pinned it together. So small, I thought I would have to tear it out. All that scouring of fleece, picking and carding, spinning, dying and knitting and it was too small! Thankfully I remembered what Suzanne of Suzanne's Knitting Shoppe in Lynchburg had taught me: wool can be blocked and stretched. I broke out the iron and a wet tea towel and went to work. So far, so good, the body fits now. Phew..... Now onto the sleeves and crochet trim. Im hoping that I dont run out of yarn......no kidding, I think I have just enough to do the sleeves....

Busch Gardens is Knitter Friendly!

Andy and I took a much needed three day mini vacation to Williamsburg. Our first stop was Busch Gardens. If you have never fed the birds while you are there, that is a must! They will land on you and eat the fruit pure' that you purchase at the bird concession stand and then hang out. This one really liked Andy's sun glasses!

As with anyplace you visit, there are rules to be followed:

Who would have thought you would see something like this at Busch Gardens?

Or meet a fellow knitter, and Raveler?
That's Andrea, aka Knitadoodle. She's knitting a scarf out of ruffle yarn (I must find this yarn, very cool!) and came up to me in line at The Dark Castle.

What's a vacation without a little fiber?

This came from Knitting Sisters in Williamsburg. A cute shop, with a great selection of yarn and other knitting goodies.

We also visited Colonial Fiber Arts in Yorktown. That is an awesome shop and I plan to go back over the summer. I purchased some flax to spin and the owner of the shop was kind enough to show me how to spin it as well as giving some helpful hints to go along with it. She had some nice plain white sock yarn that I purchased (it's in the dye pot right now!) and some hand forged scissors (just had to have them...). If you are ever in the area, I would highly recommend checking this shop out. There is also a Ben and Jerry's and Green Mountain Coffee across the street.

Miss Moosie Has Arrived

Last year I saw a blurb in Spin Off about drop spindles made out of naturally shed Moose antlers. Being originally from Maine, land of many Moose, and Moose being one of my favorite animals, naturally I had to find out more. These gorgeous hand turned, one of a kind spindles are made by Jonathan and Sheila Bosworth of Journey Wheel in Acton, Massachusetts.

I went to their web site to order a spindle and found out that there was a waiting list. I added my name to the list and about six weeks ago, got an email that my Moosie was to be in the next group. I was so excited, it was all I could talk about at home for the last few weeks!

All through the process of making the spindle, Shelia would email updates and then finally pictures of the whorls. You choose which four you like the best, and in order of who emails back first with their requests, the spindles are assigned. Next we chose the wood for the spindle - I left this up to Sheila and she chose Bocote which has a stunning stripe pattern in it.

The finished Moosie arrived on Saturday with a sample of HOT PINK SPARKLY roving on it. Since Sheila and I have never met, I have no idea how she would know that hot pink is one of my most favorite colors and well, being much like a mag pie, I love anything sparkly.

Here is Miss Moosie:

She spins wonderfully! So wonderfully, that I couldn't stop spinning after using up the sample of roving:

Thank you Sheila and Jonathan!