Knitting

Polypay Skein is Done :)

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Polypay singles

Polypay singles

Polypay plyed and dyed

Polypay plyed and dyed

Well I did finish the Polypay roving I was spinning.  To the left is a spool of singles (this was 1/2 way through the 2nd spool).  I finished this last week.  I dyed it with Jacquard acid dye in Sapphire Blue.  The friend that I spun this for is the friend with the Polypay and Polypay/Suffolk sheep, this was roving from the fleece she gave me from one of her Polypay ewes.  She wanted a blue scarf so now all I need to do is to knit this into a scarf for her.  She will  be so surprised that I have this done BEFORE winter :P.  The pattern I chose is to use the flowers from the Daisy Rectangular Shawl that I designed.  I saw a beautiful use of these flowers on a scarf on Ravelery.  (I tried to post a link to her ravelry site but you have to be signed in to ravelry to see it, if you don’t have a ravelry sign in I would suggest getting one, there are soooo many very cool patterns :). ) I’ll post a picture when it is done. 🙂

I Didn’t Really Forget

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He is Risen!

He is Risen!

I didn’t forget about Easter, had a wonderful Easter Sabbath Day.  I just didn’t get to my blog, lots of things going on this year.  I had asked the Lord to let me serve more this year, and he is!!!  I hope you all had a wonderful Easter!!

Meet Boo

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click picture for larger image

 

 My parakeet passed away this week.  He was 13 years old and I had had him for about 3 years.  He wasn’t really friendly but did seem to enjoy my company and I enjoyed his wonderful little songs. My son and his spouse decided that I needed another little friend. So they showed up last night with Boo (Cockatiel) and cage and toys and food in hand. He’s about a year old.  He’s not real friendly yet, but he should accept me and will be nice company.  He’s very pretty, he’s a yellow with a modled grey on his back and wings.  Thank you Tim and Ev.

 

 

Polypay Ewe roving almost full single spool

 

I have been spinning, and knitting (2 comfort shawls for some sweet ladies in my ward that lost a husband and mother) so I have been keeping busy.  You can see how the roving to yarn is coming along 🙂 

We have been cold and snowy, though that is what the Farmer’s Almanac predicted, I was hoping it was wrong :P.   Is it spring yet? 

 

 

 

Yes, the Scarf is Finished :)

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1st Fleece to Scarf Done

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Ok, this Little Lace Cat’s Paw Scarf took longer than a week, but it is finished (I just knit on it when I had time, that is why I don’t make promises :P).  I took it to Church with me today, but the teen (my friend’s daughter) this scarf was knit for and her family weren’t there.  I can give this to her next week.  I was a bit surprised that the scarf wasn’t quite as soft as I had thought it would be for a lambs fleece, then it hit me, this is a cross bred lamb.  The rams are Suffolk and the ewes are polypay (the lambs are raised for meat), the polypay is a fine fleece and the suffolk  is considered a medium fleece.   So it only stands to reason that the cross bred lamb’s fleece would be a little coarser than a full polypay lambs fleece would be.  It’s still not too scratchy and should serve her as a nice warm scarf here in the midwest, where our winters get pretty nasty sometimes.

 

Polypay Ewe Roving – Spinning

.I have begun spinning the polypay ewe’s roving, which is what made me wonder why the lambs roving was coarser.  It’s soft and very easy to spin with very little vm (vegetable matter for non spinners) in it and no noils :).  Tho’ I have to admit, I severely skirted this fleece because of the way the roving came back on the lambs fleece (still full of vm and noils from not having skirted as well and not seperating the shorter fiber of the neck and legs out from the prime saddle part of the fleece).  Live and learn, and I think I did :P.  This when spun, will become a blue scarf for my friend that gave me this fleece. 🙂  I have two patterns picked out, but haven’t commited to which one yet, still have plenty of time to make my final choice.  Will post the picture and link to the pattern when I have made that final choice.

1st Skein of the Polypay Lambs Roving is……… Done :)

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1st skein polypay lamb roving

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I finally finished this polypay skein!!!   It’s been a while since I started it.  I should have finished it long ago, but I was busy (and maybe a little lazy too).  The picture on the left is just wound from the spool to the pvp pipe niddy noddy.  There are some really pretty wooden niddy noddys but this one suffices :).  It is a 2 yard wrap so if my math is correct I spun 258 yards which should be plenty for the scarf I will be knitting.  It is a sport weight (about 18 wraps per inch).  The picture on the right is after I used the red (Crimson) Jacquard acid dye.  She chose the red dye and I have chosen to knit my Little Lace Cat’s Paw Scarf pattern because the teen I am knitting this for loves cats.  I think she will like the pattern. 🙂

 Soon I will start spinning the next skein  from the Ewe Polypay fleece my friend gave me, and will make a scarf for her to thank her for the fleece.   That way they will have one, fleece to finished scarf, from both fleeces :).  I will post a picture of the finished scarf when I have it done, hopefully this week, but as I always tell my children, no promises, only that I will try.

It Came, It Came!!!

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Unofficial Harry Potter Knits

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It came!  I indulged myself in a new knitting magazine.  I love Harry Potter and when I saw this book I was very excited.  It is called The Unofficial Harry Potter Knits.  After looking at it from cover to cover, I am very happy :).

Below I put a picture of  the inside part that shows the items it has, I hope that it will enlarge enough to get a look at them ;). 

Unoffical Harry Potter Knits – inside

Memorial Day 2013

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Memorial 2012

For those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom!

I want to thank all those who are now serving or have served, in any of the branches of the Armed Services, for your love of freedom and for being willing to serve your country.  I give a special reverence to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, their lives, for what they loved, a free and safe country.  May we honor them in all we do and may we always keep this country free and safe.

(Tho’ Afghanistan wasn’t included on this older picture, please know they are included in this blog!!)

Knitting for Fall

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2 Sweaters for Fall

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I got a request to knit sweaters.  Believe it or not from a 6 year old!!!  And her 4 year old brother did not want to be left out, lol.  The multi color sweater is for the oldest, note I chose different more pastel colors than the sweater on the pattern shows (on the left).  The yarn for the sweater on the right is not shown in the picture because our “new” JoAnn’s store (YEA!! we got a bigger JoAnn’s store) was out of the blue the 4 year old picked out ;).  It’s a beautiful royal blue in the same yarn.  I do use acrylic yarn for children so the upkeep is more in line with a busy working mom :).  I will be starting those very soon, because the 6 year old will be keeping track of how far along “her” sweater is. She reminded me that it was starting to get cold, LOL.

At the moment I’m trying to finish plying the teal singles I have on the Baynes spinning wheel (crosses her fingers that the band will hold fast) and then begin spinning the Polypay roving that I had processed from the lamb’s fleece a friend gave me.  I think her daughter is also keeping track of how far along I am for her scarf.  LOL  I better be getting my bottom end in gear!!!! 😛  I will knit on the 2 children’s sweaters while I spin (tho not exactly at the same time :P).  Sometimes I feel more like knitting and sometimes I feel more like spinning, nice to have two projects going so I can do what I want when I feel like it.  🙂

The end of summer and fall here has been so wonderful and cool.  I know winter is coming, but I will try to make a few “warmer” memories to get me through those very cold dreary winter months here in IA, that seem to go on forever, while I anticipate the beautiful green spring again :).

Bison Scarf Finished :)

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Bison little lace scarf

A friend of mine has a friend with a Bison herd (American Buffalo).  She asked me if I could make something nice for her friend from the down that her bison shed every spring, and I agreed to do so.  She collected the down and sent me about 7 ozs or so, which included the weight of the mud and dirt, and I sent it off to a fiber mill to be dehaired and processed into roving or fluff so I could spin it and knit a scarf for her.  I have used this fiber mill before and they do a lovely job of processing, and anyone familiar with the fiber mills know there is always a wait because they are very busy.   Unfortunately a misunderstanding occurred in understanding the processing I had requested and they blended and spun it into yarn.  Because bison is such a short fiber the mill blends with with another fine fiber (merino) for spinning it into yarn.  The yarn is beautiful, so their work is still impeccable, but my friend’s friend wanted pure bison fiber for the scarf.  The box I got back had a beautiful skein of sport weight blended bison yarn (I would have spun it a little lighter into a heavy sock weight), some left over roving (which is very soft and wonderful) and the hair that came from the dehairing.  Tho I know there is weight lost during the washing process, I didn’t realize how much was lost in the dehairing process as I’ve never had a fiber that required it before so that was a learning process for me, but it was still enough for a nice scarf a little less long than I had intended.  I got the finished scarf, used my Little Lace Cast’s Paw scarf pattern, off in the mail on Tuesday and she should get the scarf and left over fibers today. 🙂  I hope she will be pleased with the results even if it wasn’t quite what she had wanted.  There is always next year.  Oh the fiber mill was very apologetic, they had just hired a new employee who was still learning what to do with the orders.  All is forgiven, their work is very nice.

Hmmm, the depths of deep space seems to have eaten my last post which was about football season and my beloved Cowboys, maybe WordPress doesn’t like the Cowboys, hmmm, gonna sneak it back in here anyway.  😛  GO COWBOYS!!!

Vacation post 2 of 3

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New Mexico Scenery

This first picture is the typical desert scenery and below is rolling hills/farmland.  New Mexico has a variety of landscapes, from desert all the way to mountains.  It is a beautiful state, tho if you are from the midwest, east or south, you will miss all the green grass and rain.  New Mexico is a dry state but when it rains the vegetation that is there blooms overnight. It’s very pretty to see.

 

 

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I miss this scenery, even tho where I live is beautifully green.

 

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