Busy weekend

Well I finally motivated myself this weekend and manage to dye over 2 pounds of wool. Inspiration for the colors came from Ryan. He requested the orange, turquoise, and blue for a sweater. The tie-dye looking one was an experiment and I like it, it reminds me of Molly. I'm going to send her a bit to spin. I'm starting to feel inhibited by my workspace. I have to soak the wool in the tub. Then I have the dyepot set up outside on the propane stove so the fumes won't overtake the house. Then I cart all the steaming dripping dyestuff back in the house where I proceed to stain everything in sight....the kitchen sink, bathroom sink, bathtub, counters, carpet. Let's hope the landlord doesn't notice. I'm doing a little experiment with this batch and carding the wool after it is dry. I'm hoping to produce a loftier and softer yarn. Actually I think I might be procrastinating until the new wheel arrives.

Batch 1

Bathtub soak

Batch 2

Feeling better today

Well I'm feeling more upbeat today but still battling the onset of a cold. Made some progress on the sweater last night..I should give it a name. Its the grey sweater for now. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures taken. Maybe tonight. I'm having a little motivational issue right now. After I get home from work I have a hard time getting started on any big projects. I know I want to get some dyeing done so I can start spinning some more but somehow I think I'm waiting for my new wheel. I think I still have two more weeks to wait on that one....

Full Moon

I'm tired, and lazy. I blame it on the moon. It is playing with me this month. Where the full moon usually keeps me up at night this month I can't get enough sleep. I haven't worked on any knitting project. All my energy is spent going to work and keeping up with my online class. I made it to Yoga last night and was happy to find Randa where I thought there would be a substitute. I dragged myself home on my bicycle last night and was in bed by 8:30. I hope this will pass.

Long weekend...

Natural Dyeing

Okay so this isn't a current picture. It is from last summer but I've been thinking about doing some more dyeing so this picture fits. I dyed this yarn with Tansy which I collected near my house. It is considered a noxious weed out here so noone really minds if you go whack a bunch down. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find alot of plants around here that don't produce a yellow dye. So right now I'm resorting to acid dyes. I bought some this weekend while planning the next sweater. I'm still working on the grey sweater but it is sooo slow I need some other exciting project to think about. I'm also tossing around the idea of trying to get a booth at the Sweet Pea. I feel nervous and excited at the same time at the prospect of selling some of my yarn. I need to make a plan, which I'm avoiding because....well I'm not sure. Fear of failure I guess.

The beginnings of a sweater

Norm Franklin's Wool

I had intended to go home last night and take a bunch of pictures of the sweater in progress and the yarn and instead ended up at Plonk for a bottle of wine with my friend Tuli. Thanks Tuli for rescuing me from a late night at work. So I never intended to post this picture as it isn't really representative of the color of the wool. Oh well. I bought this wool from Norm Franklin in Twin Bridges, Montana. His website is here. He weaves rugs and even let me sit at work at his loom for a little while. Anyway, this is 400 yards of the yarn for my new sweater. I figure I need about 2000 yards. Better pictures soon.

Arrrgghhhhh

Sadness. I took some pictures last night of the sweater I'm working on and somehow managed to lose them between the camera and the computer. I have no idea where they went. It's a total mystery. I hope to recreate the photo tonight and post tomorrow. It is going super slow with the fine yarn I am spinning. The knitting and the spinning is slow. I guess I could have predicted this. I've spun 500 yards of the 2000 yards I estimated needing. Maybe after this I'll get over my liking for fine knits.

My mountain man

10 inches

This is what Ryan was doing yesterday while I was at work. The lucky man happened to have his day off fall on a day that Bridger Bowl received 10 inches of new snow. Must have been a good day for him as he was also accepted on the NOLS Alaska Instructor Course. Yea Ryan!

Evidence for a crafting gene

Knitting Prodigy

This is my sister Emiley. She just learned how to knit a few months ago and has already nearly surpassed me in the number of project completed. She even belongs to a knitting group which is something that has eluded me thus far though I want desperately to find a crafting community. Suffice it to say I'm impressed. I finished zero projects this weekend and learned from my mom that Emiley presented both her and my stepdad with handknit Valentine's Day presents. She's good...

Avalanches and Grizzly Bears

Snow Crystal

Last night while sitting in my avalanche class at the university I realized I'm afraid of basically two things in Montana....avalanches and grizzly bears. Luckily these two items seem to be seasonal. You worry about bears while you are backpacking in the summer/fall and you worry about avalanches while you are skiing in the winter/spring. I think these are valid fears, being eaten by a gigantic bear or being buried alive under a pile of snow but at least you don't have to worry about both at once...being buried alive with a grizzly bear? Maybe my worst nightmare.

Afternoon funny

My friend Debi just told me it looks like I'm knitting in the picture of me in the Boiling River and now that she has pointed this out I have to agree. If you squint and look just right you can imagine that I am sitting in the river knitting. This is not true of course, though I knit just about everywhere else. It made me laugh though, which is good, in the afternoon, at work.

Can you feel the excitement?

Schacht Matchless

This is my chosen one. It is being built as we speak somewhere in Colorado. Unfortunately it will be four weeks before I can have this for my very own. Sad. But once it gets here watch out, I will be a spinning maniac once more. I even got some high speed bobbins and whorls out of the deal. I can't tell you how much it cost. I revealed this to sister Kelley and her reaction proved to me that its price should be kept secret from anyone not deeply entrenched in the spinning world.

Paradise Valley

The Boiling River

I forgot about these pictures until this morning when I dumped my camera to get the tam pictures. So I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and now I live here, in Montana. I can't believe it sometimes. This is close to where I live or at least close in Montana terms which means it is an hour and a half from my house. This is a hot spring located in Yellowstone National Park called the Boiling River. It is not heavily visited by tourists (you have to go farther than 50 yards from your car to get there), especially in the winter which is the best time for this hot spring. This picture was taken in January and here I am sitting in the river in my suit. Lovely. The water running off the rocks is hot, literally almost boiling but it mixes with the cold water from the river in these pools where you can sit for hours and soak up the goodness.

The big question...

Mom's Tam Re-vision

I made this tam for my mom for Christmas and unfortunately it didn't fit so she sent it back and I ripped out the decrease section and added a few inches. I think it fits pretty well now. I have to roll the brim up for it to fit me so we'll see how mom likes it. I spun the yarn from a really nice merino/silk blend that I bought from Montana Fibers in Livingston. She creates the most beautiful wool/silk blends I have ever seen. Her website is here. Though she is not currently selling her fiber blends over the internet as far as I can tell. Ryan has two hats made out of the same yarn and he wears them every day. I need one for myself.... someday.

Real men wear magenta?

Finished gloves (almost)

Well I'm considering this my first official post. I hope to use this blog as a place to share some of my work. This picture shows my most recent finished item, Ryan's gloves. They really are finished now and the fingers aren't open on the end. It took a couple of tries to get the fingers the right length but finally it is finished. This was the first project that I dyed, spun and knitted all by myself. Yep, I'm proud of this one.

I'm currently spinning yarn for a sweater of my own design and finally broke down and ordered a new spinning wheel so I can stop fighting with my Ashford Traditional. Pictures soon of some of the yarn for the sweater.

Photo test

Yarn for Ryan's Gloves

This is the yarn I spun for Ryan's gloves. It turned out even better than I had hoped. Let's keep in mind that Ryan asked for magenta gloves.