More Mother's Day

Mom got the nicest things for Mother's Day.

She got fiber from her darlingest daughter. She got almost an ounce of white milk fiber. Gloriously soft and silky milk fiber. AND She got a HUGE hank of domestic top in a wonderful colorway called Cupid's Arrow. The package came by way of FeelingSheepish.etsy.com and was wrapped up in pretty ribbons and bows and packaging. One of the best gifts ever. Mom is going to spin it after Teresa teaches the spinning classes.

I had never heard of milk fiber until I got a sample in my Phat Fiber box (yes I know I haven't posted pictures yet). But I did learn that: a natural protein makes skin delicate and smoot, the amino acids make the fiber antibacterial and antifungal, and it is glossy, and luxurious, feels wonderfully silky.








And then there were roses.

Mom's oldest and most loved son and his wife sent not a rose, or even a dozen roses but TWO rose plants. They were the Cherokee Rose mom has been wanting. She had a Cherokee rose in Georgia (the state flower) but it isn't here. And it got killed off there also.

Now she has two and we will plant them on either side of the bridge. The bridge that goes between here house and mine goes over one of my gardens and there will be room to plant her roses after I get some of the weeds out of the garden bed. I have a few days because the plant needs to sit in the shade for a day or two but I will get the garden weeded and the roses planted and more pictures taken. The other pot of bulbs in the picture is something JoAnn and ROb sent mom when she first got to Idaho.


Mom got water plants and tubs to plant them in from her younger son, but I didn't get pictures of them. Andrew helped her open the box and plant the plants and put them in the ponds and he didn't get pictures.


I am sure she got other stuff but I didn't see it to take pictures, so I apologize if I left your gift out.

Love Mother's Day

It seems that Mom and I celebrate Mother's day the same way . . . forcing children (or grandchildren) into slave labor for the day. Gardening is very good for kids . . .

So, I moved all the potted plants out of the greenhouse, trimmed them all, repotted them all and then rearranged them all. It was a HUGE undertaking.

Here are the trees in the corner (Mom's Bay, my fig, a norfolk island pine and a tropical hibiscus).



And here are the passiflora - with a few friends. I lost several this winter - they were crowded enough in the SubT that I didn't notice.

And Miss S's famous pondlet - with a brand new lily - n minuta. And my lilies in the freshly weeded garden in front of the big hydrangea.

The new variegated iris on the beach of the pond - man does the pond want to be cleaned!

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And last, but not least,

some flowers under the bird feeders - gloriosa lilies, a hummer bush that a friend sent me and a blooming olive (that's never bloomed).

This is Miss M's herb garden. This year it's only going to be basil and one galapagos tomato plant and I think I might add a green pepper plant.

Happy Mother's Day!

First, here's a picture of a fat cat belly. He's a little melty in this shot.

And this is the first Merino that I've successfully spun. It was some of the samples that came from Northern Lights Fiber. The girls couldn't use it to needle felt because it wouldn't felt, so I decided to try again to spin it. It worked. Not sure how much fiber I started with, but it ended up being 72 yards of a fingering weight 3 ply - navaho plied. It's soft and quite nice for a first try. I'm still not great at merino, but at least now I know it's possible.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day is coming up fast.

I have the best mother in the world but I have to share her with my siblings.

One sent her flowers that were delivered today. Aren't they gorgeous? If you can't see the wonderful little bird, please enlarge the picture.

Contests!

First, this week is Giveaway Week in the Phat Fiber World. If you haven't gone and looked at the Phattie's stores, you really should. There is some beautiful fiber out there. My problem is that my eyes are bigger than my wallet - still, some of the vendors are having terrific sales and others have coupons on the secret site.

So far we have:

Knit it Up

Tactile Fiber Arts

Greenwood Fiber Works

All of them have gorgeous stuff and it's hard when you look in those shops not to order several things. But you have to hurry to enter as the drawings are today!

Second, please go check out the Phat Fiber Spring Competition. The entries are all really great. I won't say here which entries are mine, but if you haven't voted for your favorites, you really should. I hope you'll pick some of mine as your favorites! Voting for this contest doesn't end until the 15th.

And lastly, a very bad picture of the Palindrome hat that Miss S knit for the assistant college counselor at the school. This lady was a huge help when both girls were taking the SAT tests in January. This first pic doesn't show the color of the hat at all, but it does show it on a head. It's made using Baby Alpaca Grande by Plymouth Yarns which the girl loves to knit with. It's so soft and squooshy that I think the recipient will love it too.

Sizing

As promised, here are pictures with some scale so you can see how big I made the socks. First, I made the smaller size in stitch count, but was getting a slightly larger gauge than the pattern calls for - and this is a stretchy pattern, so the smaller size fits my feet nicely.

Second, those two balls are not quite exactly the same size - the one on the right is a bit larger. I did make sure that the weight of the two balls was the same when I split the skein into two balls (yes, I rewound it into to evenly sized balls).

Third, I love the way this yarn knits up - the swirls and elipses are fabulous. Since I currently have the socks in my possesion . . . well, isn't that 9 tenths of the law? Doesn't that mean I get to keep them?



And this . . . this gorgeous hunk-a-wool is the Dicentra Designs roving called Eowyn. I'm even more in love with the colors in person than I was on the screen. There is a whole bunch of new fiber up in that shop today that was not there the other day . . . I could find a lot to buy there.

Daily Dose of Fiber

First, that lovely Gale's Art Roving that I bought at Stitches . . . it was a very quick spin. I deliberately spun it thicker than I have spun most of what I've been spinning because I wanted the colors to really show. I spun each braid onto it's own spool because they technically did not match. Here they are plyed together and looking lovely!












And here are my completed Toasty Twist socks in the Regia that Dena sent me. I'm afraid that my model has absconded with them. I really need a new model because this one absconds with everything she tries on . . . it's a real problem.

And finally, a gratuitous Cute Cat pic, because I have one to show. The beast is the world's biggest bully but when he comes for cuddles there is nothing and noone softer and more pliable than him - ol' no bones the fur man.

Spinning & Knitting

First - these are our Cotton Spindles along with the cotton samples for us to learn to spin. I don't know how to do it yet, but figure I can learn before I come . . . at least I hope I can.

I've been knitting my fingers to the bone and have actually finished a thing or two but I cannot show you any of it just yet. Some of it I'm saving till it is all done and then I'll do a big post about it - that's the stuff from Stitches Classes. Some of it must remain anonymous until it's seen by others and I will post it as soon as I can.

And this is the lovely "Easter Colors" yarn I just spun - well the almost-yarn. I'm going to ply the two spools together tonight and then it will be yarn. It was the Gale's Art Yarns end of the day rovings so technically they don't match - but they will when I'm done. I made the singles much thicker so this should be a relatively bulky yarn. Pics tomorrow.

Preparations for Fiber Fest

I have been working hard on getting my stuff together for the Fiber Fest. So has mom.

Mom is hosting a wine tour of Idaho since there are over 30 wineries in very close proximity. Some we have tasted and bought wines from (Williamson Orchard and Vineyards has great wines) but mom is going through and checking out where we should go. On June 21st there is Savor Idaho, a Wine and Food event. Depends on when the Fiber Fest is. But mom has the list of wineries and is planning the tour.

Mom is also hosting a tour of LYS. She has a list of 9 yarn shops and is picking and choosing. (yes, we have 3 times as many wineries as yarn shops but it turns out that Idaho has a perfect soil and climate for growing grapes.

In order to finalize mom's LYS Tour plans we are going to have to check out most of the stores on her list. It turns out we have been to four of the 9. One I have been to years ago but they are having an open house tomorrow with sheep sheering and spinning demonstrations and stuff. Okay it is more a spinning than yarn store but we will make the trip and check it out. Monday we will check out another spinning yarn store. This one we had finally found last year but both times we went there it was closed. It will be open Monday and we will be there. And then next Thursday we will check out the two LYS in Nampa when mom goes into get her ears checked. There is one yarn store in Boise I have looked for over the years. I have been to the address but just can't find the store. We will probably skip that one although it is probably the one Teresa would like the best.

I (Dena) have been working on my class stuff.
For Increases and Decreases: All the Ins and Outs I have lesson plan, student handout, student exercise, and knitted sample. Need to find yarns: student must bring their own needles.
For Tatting for the Beginner, I have lesson plan, student handout (with lots of pictures), student exercises, supplies for students, and door prizes for each of the three sessions. Way cool door prizes. You are going to love these door prizes. I have the exercises all picked out and just need to tat up the lesson samples and samples of each exercise.
For Portuguese Knitting, I have lesson plan, and all supplies except yarn. Of course when I get the yarn for the other classes, this one will be covered also.

It turns out that there are four alpaca farms here in town. My itty bitty town. And alpaca owners are the very nicest of people. So this morning we took a tour of one of the farms and met all kinds of friendly alpaca. And felt their fleece. Such wonderful fleece. And the best of the best were down in Denver at a show winning awards. Mom and I learned so much and came away with three bags full. During the Fiber Fest, we will be returning so Teresa can meet all our new friends. Everyone of them has a name but I won't remember all the names.

Since Teresa is doing the spinning classes and bringing ALL the supplies, mom thought we should help out. So we got the alpaca fiber. White and the most gorgeous brown. The white is from Joey and the brown from El Ninya. (Yes I know enough spanish to recognize the problem there but that is her name). Hopefully, we will have it all cleaned up and carded by June. And maybe dye some of the roving. Or should we wait to dye it? Mom has dyes but who will host that session? (Hint, Hint)

Stitches South! It's a Good Thing!!!!!!!

The very first Stitches South was here in Atlanta this weekend and it was a wonderful thing!!! The market place was big and there was lots to see and buy and do. The very best things I found were from local artists and shops, but there was a lot there and many places to spend money.

Miss Babs is one of my favorite indy dyers, because I just love the base she uses for her sock yarn. So, I visited her booth and bought some sock yarn, but more than that, I bought some fiber to spin. This is corriedale roving - a lovely teal with shades of blue and dark green. I also bought some purple with dark green and bits of other colors because it spoke to me. I thought we might spin them up (there is some dispute as to who will be doing the spinning, but since I paid for it, I figure I get to spin it if I want to) and then ply the two together . . . . Like this:

This is the sock yarn - kind of pinky, that way I'm sure my husband won't try to steal the socks.

And then I found and bought two lucets. I used to have some around here, but dang if I can find them. The girls glommed these and both are currently making cords with them. Sometimes it doesn't pay to show off what you buy!

And next, the award for Best Of Show goes to these wonderful Trindles! They are hand made drop spindles made by a local science teacher - Jeremy Armstrong. He sells them through a local yarn shop and has a new shop on Etsy called Trindleman. These things are so perfectly balanced that if they fall out of balance, he pulls them off the sales floor. (they only do that if dropped and either bent or broken). They are so perfectly balance that Miss M picked one up and spun almost perfect laceweight yarn the first try out of the gate. Now, she had been attempting to learn on the wheel, but had not gotten drafting down yet. So Miss S picked one up tonight and while hers wasn't as close to perfection as Miss M's, it was better than any first handspun I've ever seen and she's never touched a wheel or spindle in her life! And the really good news is that I have 5 - one for everyone!

And this is a free bag I got from Southwest Trading Company, a yarn company that has terrifically soft and wonderful yarn. I want to pick up a pattern and enough of their yarn to make it cuz it was slap-dab gorgeous!

My new shawl pin - very simple but the wood grain is actually quite pretty. Since I usually don't close my shawls, it is plenty for me and it was very inexpensive.

Twined Knitting Patterns for us to choose from! I learned much more than I knew about the technique and so I picked up these patterns as they are probably much more explicit (and more well charted) than what is in either book. Which one will you knit?

Some lovely roving for spinning - more corriedale from Gale's Art Yarns. Miss M is claiming that I said this one was for her too . . . .I did not say that. I'm sure I didn't.