Santa Came, Santa Left

The night before Christmas Mitch proclaimed just before going to bed; "I'm going to get up and wait for Santa." I wonder how many more years he's going to want to bake cookies for Santa Claus?

He received an inexpensive, yet very capable electric keyboard (he calls it piano) from Santa, and was very excited, but so far his parents are enjoying it more than he is.

I received a Christmas house from Mitch and Charlie -- A hardware store, of course. There weren't any yarn stores. So now I have an ACE Hardware Store, right next to Rosie's Restaurant. Charlie also gave me a "Fiber of the Month" club -- his own last-minute creation, but I'm seeing a business opportunity here.

The gift tag Mitch made for me; they are reindeer.

M's hooded vest, nearly done; I now have to sew the sides, knit the arm ribbings, and sew on the zipper.

I sat by the fire tonight and peeled the bark off the apple tree branches. Yup, after the defeat from the first attempt, I am trying the apple bark dye. It's a lot of work. I must be crazy to be doing this. It's so easy to buy a beautifully dyed pink fiber!

The natural dye book I'm using for a reference says to strip off the outer bark and use only the inner bark for brighter color. Not as easy as it may sound. Can't really tell what inner bark is -- especially from a branch that has a crust of old, brittle bark. That's the kind I used for my first attempt. So this time I avoided those, and peeled off the thin, light brownish part with a pocket knife. I am going out to get a jug of distilled water to soak the bark in -- then the wait begins (I'm supposed to soak it for about a week). If it fails this time, I am not touching the apple bark ever again!

Long Awaited

Finally, we are on the long-awaited Christmas break. This year all three of us are off from work and school at the same time, until January 2nd. Usually by December 15th or so my work slows down, but it just wasn't the case this year -- I ran around until the last moment, and even with that I felt like not much was accomplished -- thus sadly, no Holiday cards made this year. Shame on me.

Mitch was down with a cold again (second time this winter), and he was slightly asthmatic. When he got better, I was down for the second time as well. I think I am getting over quickly, thanks to the mega-load of Vitamin C at the beginning. All that didn't help with getting things accomplished, of course. Knitting included.

I did finish the socks for my friend and sent them off to her in Japan.

She lives in a snow country in Japan, and very much appreciated the socks I knitted for her last year, so I hope this pair will be a welcome addition.

I am still working on Mitch's hooded vest. I'm on the hood part right now, and with five balls of yarn to maneuver, it's been a lot of work. Not sure if I can finish it by Christmas, but I'm not going to sweat it. I am using a Japanese knitting pattern, and I've been enjoying reading the graphic pattern again.

I'm really looking forward to getting back to spinning alpaca Erin brought back from Oregon, but I wanted to get some natural brown sheep wool to ply it with. I'm not brave enough to knit something with 100% alpaca handspun that may not retain shape -- alpaca has no or very little elasticity. So I called up Nancy, my spinning teacher -- I headed to her house this morning, only to find out that she was too down with a cold. So the local sheep ranch visit was postponed, once again. One of these days, I will get to visit her and post some pictures of her sheep! For now, we'll tame our fantasy with my Christmas sheep figurines.

Erin and her family is north-bound, off to see her parents in Vancouver. She's planning a visit to a local yarn shop to look for some Fleece Artist's spinning tops (hard to get in the US) for me, among other fine Canadian yarn for herself, while she's there! I will post the colorway I am looking for by the time for her yarn shop visit.

Happy Holidays!

Peace on Earth.

Winding Down

I'm done traveling for the year, and I'm getting ready for the Christmas vacation. I am going to clean up the house, dye and spin, and of course knit, during the break!

Here's the front piece of Mitch's hooded vest.

It's hard to see, but the left side is the front, and it has a cable pattern. St. James Church, down town Toronto, 7 in the evening. Brrrrrr. That was pretty much the only street I walked on this trip, on King East, back and forth between the office and the hotel.

The flight home was very smooth and beautiful -- it flew right over the City. It was breathtaking.

Home Sweet Home.

$100 Parka Saves My Life

I'm not kidding. It's that cold in Toronto. Today was minus 12 degrees, Celsius, during the day. I don't even want to know what it is in Fahrenheit.

Living in California, I didn't even have a decent coat for the last few years. We just don't need it -- maybe a good rain jacket, but not a snow parka (and I don't ski). I've been going to Montreal and Toronto during the winter for the three winters in a row, so finally I've broken down and bought a parka that is supposed to withstand -20 F. It's not even close to a Kanuk, but still it's an $100 investment that I wouldn't have made in a normal situation.

Oh yeah. It works.
The color matches my Crosspatch too.

I braved going out tonight alone, in search of an ATM that accepts my card (it's a long, boring story), and got on a subway for the first time in this city. I saw a knitter on the subway!

That's pretty much it for the report. Hopefully I'll have something more interesting tomorrow. Will try to post the front piece of M's vest too.

I Love Hats

I love knitting hats, but unfortunately I don't look good in them. I love seeing little kids with cute knitted hats, and I have a son who looks very cute wearing them. I've knitted hats for him every winter, and thought that I'd continue as long as he enjoys wearing them.

Then it hit me.

It's been pretty cold in the morning, and I put his favorite hat that I knitted for him last winter before leaving to school. Then he said:

"But what if my friends see it?"

Oh gosh. His cute knitted hats days are over. Already. Not even the Gryffindor hat didn't sway him.

Bye bye Mitch's favorite green hat (sniff).

My last business trip of the year is next week, to Toronto, and the only things I'm looking forward to about this trip are to wear my Crosspatch hat and have a long knitting time on the flight. It was a crazy week, and I had very little knitting done, so I need to accelerate my Christmas knitting. And whether I look good or bad in it, I do need to wear a warm hat there. No one's going to comment on how bad I look in it, but they'll comment how warm my hat looks. I'm hoping.

It's already been a week, but on last Friday at the Knit Night at Erin's, I had a double-take on Huguette's latest FO.

It's another Crosspatch!

It turned out that Huguette was working on her Crosspatch at the exact same time I was on mine. It does look much smoother than mine, which is lumpy and bumpy -- I'm still not sure if it's because mine is with a handspun or not....Huguette used Cascade. I love the colors too.

I might find a (grown) man's hat pattern and knit one for Charlie -- he has to go to Montreal in January. He's going to need it. Brrrrrrrrr!

I Gave a Goat Today

'Tis the season of giving. And I gave a goat today to someone, who will nourish her hungry children with its milk.

I never imagined that being a parent would make me so sensitive to a child's suffering. And among so many painful, sad stories associated with children suffering around us, near, far, all around the world, giving a goat or sheep might make a tiny part of it a little better. And the gift will be long lasting, offering a hand to free from the grip of poverty.

So, my choice of the charity this year is Heifer Project International. There's a Knitting Basket gift we could give to a family to produce an income from the spun/knitted items too!

Thanksgiving Half Over

It's rare that we get four days straight off from work. One of the reasons why I love Thanksgiving. Going into the break, I was really engaged into knitting a hooded vest for my son, but the eve of Thanksgiving as I was finishing the back piece, I realized that I was going to run out of the yarn if I just went straight to the front pieces. It has cable center borders on the front that continue to the hood, so I could knit that part in a contrasting yarn. But of course the yarn store would be closed for Thanksgiving. So on the Turkey Day I spun the last hunk of Lisa Souza's silk/merino roving, instead of knitting, while the turkey cooks in the oven. I will have about 1,000 meters of sport-weight yarn by the time I finish plying this.

Oh yeah, I blocked the Column of Leaves scarf, finally.

I threaded a nylon string on the long edges and pinned them onto the ironing board.

What a difference blocking makes on a lace scarf!


I wore it to the trip to Knitterly today, but it was too warm, actually for a knitted scarf. It was 75 degrees outside, and ladies were walking in tanktops!

After lunch, we shopped at a bookstore. I bought a copy of Teva Durham's Loop-d-Loop for $7.50! What a great day to walk around the town. No Black Friday at department stores for this household.

We are off to Erin's house for Knit Night in 40 minutes! Gotta decide. Wheel or Yarn?

Spinnable

My son was watching the TV today, cuddling his stuffed animal on his lap. He pulled a small fur from his "puppy," and examined it closely.

"Mommy, look. Spinnables!"

My son. Good boy.

Ready for Winter

I'm done with Crosspatch, and I'm ready for Winter.
I didn't run out of the handspun yarn -- I have just a small handful left. The pattern by Elizabeth Morrison calls for a ball each of 100-meter yarn, but my estimate is about 60 meters each for MC (gray in my version) and CC (brown), in case any spinners want to knit this with shorter-than-100-meters yarn. I used US 9 needles.

This is only my second FO with my handspun yarn! And since it was something I actually needed, I'm really proud.

This is called mosaic knitting, and this was the first time I ever tried. Mine looks more bumpy, compared to Elizabeth's smooth mosaic pattern, and I'm not sure if it's my lack of technique or my unevenly spun yarn. But I still like it.

My Column of Leaves scarf remains unblocked. I hope I'll get my act together on it soon.

I've also started on a new pair of socks -- the first pair as Christmas gifts. I'm using the Knitpicks Options metal DPNs for the first time. It's fast -- but I have to pay attentions so they don't slip off the stitches. Something I never needed to worry using my bamboo DPNs.

I can't believe it's Thanksgiving next week! Winter's in full swing.

What a Week

Last Friday Mitch started coughing. By the evening it was a full-blown croup, and he was barking like a little lost seal. Of course it had to be a Friday evening. Of we went to the After Hour Pediatric Clinic.

He had a high fever, and the cough was awful. Hard to see a little kid go through this. The first night he woke me up six times, crying. It's rare.

His regular pediatrician is on vacation (the timing was perfect), and we got an appointment with another doctor on Tuesday. By then I was having a bad feeling -- may be pneumonia. Oh yeah. I was right. On a strong antibiotic, he's rapidly recovering -- what a relief.

Staying home with him and trying to work at the same time is pretty tough. I feel sluggish.

But I've finally finished Brooke's Column of Leaves scarf!

I used 2.3 hanks of Blue Sky Alpaca Sport. The picture is before blocking, which is essential to this pattern. I hope to get to it later this week...

I've also started on Crosspatch with my handspun.

I'm worried that I might run out of the yarn... It's always a problem with knitting with handspun; at least for me it has been. I love the pattern though. I also am in love with the yarn -- very lofty and light. The gray yarn has the handful of mohair I got at the Apple Fair blended in it. I wanted to knit a warm hat for my winter trips to Toronto/Montreal. I was going to go to Toronto next week, but with Mitch being sick and all, I've decided to cancel it.

Maybe tomorrow Mitch will be well enough to go take a walk with me. It's been beautiful outside, but we've been cooped up!

Bye Bye Pumpchins

So Halloween is over, and the time has come to take down the bats and spiders. My son has enjoyed trick-or-treating, but he enjoyed treating the kids that came to our door even more.

Mitch gingerly went into the scariest house on the block.

Um, Mom.... Um, can you ding-dong for me?

As soon as the resident of the haunted house appears, Mitch waved to him, backing off, apologizing. "Eh, um, sorry, I just wanted some candies, but it's okay, I don't want it anymore." I was doubling over, laughing.

By the way, my son wanted to be Harry Potter again. What a good boy.

Oh, yes. I've been spinning a lot. Last Friday evening, Huguette, Erin and I went to the bakery to have our first FlourChylde Knit Night. I spun. It was quite interesting to see people stopping to look at what I as doing. If you live in Novato, the bakery will be open Friday evenings, and they serve wine. Come out and knit (or spin) with us!

A week worth of spinning. From left to right -- blend of mohair (from the Apple Fair) and a merino/alpaca roving (from Lambtown), dark-brown merino/alpaca (from Lambtown), green romney (from California Wool and Fiber Festival). The left two hunks are the result of my trying to spin thicker than my regular spinning. I'm planning to knit Crosspatch. I'm not sure if I have enough yardage.

Blending the mohair and the merino/alpaca was fun -- I am a fan of mohair now. It makes the fiber so lustrous and soft.

OK, can I have an angora goat in the back yard? Just one?

The Yettlest Pumpchin

My son is four, and he's the tallest kid in his class. He's talkative and sociable. But the way he talks is so sweet that it often makes people melt. There are so many words he still can't say right. When he says "Mom, I want to tell you sumpin (something)," I secretly hope that he'd keep saying just like that.

Last Friday afternoon when I went to his preschool to pick him up, he was listening to a story called "The Littlest Pumpkin." In it, the littlest pumpkin at the pumpkin farm was left alone on the Halloween night, since no one wanted her. On Sunday, when we went Pumpkin Patching, he was determined to find "the Yettlest Pumpchin" and take her home.

The Yettlest Pumpchin was nowhere to be found.

"I don't think this is the yettlest," says Mitch.

"I found them! Five of them!"

The littlest pumpkins proudly came home with Mitch, and are now in his room.

There were several fiber-related fun at the Tolay Pumpkin Patch in Petaluma too. Two spinners at the Wyammy Ranch booth, and one of them was very young and very experienced, expertly spinning silk. I got to talk with Joann, Wyammy Ranch's owner. I think I bought her dyed romney last year at the Sebastopol Apple Festival.

Mitch also got to try felting.

I should tell you that I've started spinning Erin's alpaca last Saturday at our Knit Night. It's heavenly, not a hint of guard hair, and I was so desperate to spin it I was taking the fiber right off the carders!

Now a dilemma.... I just read in the spinning book that since alpaca has no elasticity, in order to avoid the garment to sag, you should blend some wool into alpaca. Hmmm. I don't have any sheep fleece that matches this sweet coco brown color. What to do? Oh yeah, another visit to the pumpkin patch, obviously!

Spinning in Public (sort of)

There were two hours of phone meetings that I didn't have to run scheduled on my calendar today. I've found last year that knitting while on the phone is a very effective way to listen attentively, and actually get something out of it. But my WIP is a lace scarf, which I mess up too often even when I don't have any distractions. I didn't want to cast on a new, simpler project, as my current mission is to reduce UFOs. So, instead of knitting, I spun. Yup, in my office.

Luckily many of my team members telecommute, and I sit in a corner cube. My Joy is so compact and discreet in its bag, and the building security didn't stop me :-) I spun happily for two hours (not the alpaca though), feeling my stress level going down like the sand in the hourglass. Watching rain falling on the hill, thinking that this would make the grueling conference calls worthwhile. Well, almost.

It's quite interesting that, Stefaneener, the author of one of my daily reads, just posted on her blog about how soothing it has been for her to spin every evening. In fact, all of the spinners I know have said the same. Spinning saves me.

I was only joking when I said I wanted to bring my wheel to the office. Now that I've actually done it, I'm no longer joking. I think I will do this again, as a part of taking care of myself. I'm sure my listening skill will improve. I might even start listening to myself more.

Carrots

I've washed some of the alpaca Erin brought back from McMinnville, OR, for which trip report we still anxiously await. Hint, hint.

(A lock of alpaca on my palm -- see how fine it is!)

I don't know much about the alpaca fiber, so I did some research -- to wash or not to wash and how. Many online sites state that since alpaca fiber doesn't have any lanolin, it doesn't get dirty and many prefer to spin unwashed. If you decide to wash before spinning, the method is pretty much the same with sheep's fleece, but more emphasis on "gentle." No need to scour, again because there's no grease in the fiber.

So I took just a handful from one of two ziplock bags, hand-picked the vegetable matters, and gently lied them over the sink-full of soapy water. I did try carding them to remove the VM, but soon realized that carding really isn't necessary -- the fiber is well aligned, and intact. The VMs are pretty large (and very little questionable contents) and are easy to pick out.

And after sorting out the fiber I thought was just a handful, it expanded -- fluffed up, it's a lot of fiber. Gently swished it in the water, and after a while the water was cloudy-brown. It's fine sand/dust that was in the fiber, that settled down at the bottom of the sink. I think it was a good idea to wash it first.

While washing it, the fiber looked so much like fine hair -- of a read head -- maybe of a child. It was eely! At the wet state, it's all tangly and unruly, and I can now sympathize mothers with fine, long-haired girls! So I gave it a little fiber softener, hoping that it would help detangling. No whining from the alpaca, lucky for me.


Now it's all nicely dried and gently teased by hand, sitting on my kitchen counter. I have to run my fingers through it whenever I walk by. I've been resisting with all my might to spin it -- I have tasked myself to finish some knitting UFOs before I can start spinning it. Now I am on the Brooke's Column of Leaves scarf. If I can knit three leaves an evening, I should be able to get to the alpaca this weekend! See, it's a carrot dangling in front of my nose. It's really hard as I'm not a good lace knitter, and this is a complicated pattern -- well, to me at least. Luckily this is in alpaca too, and makes me fancy about how wonderful spinning the read head alpaca would be!

Pretty fall colors -- We drove to Calistoga on Sunday.

We drove behind a truck with a full-load of grapes through St. Helena. Hmmm, Cabernet or Pinot? Can you see them?

It was quite a sight to witness the bouncing piles of grapes right in front of us!

Fiber Souvenir

So here's the fiber souvenir that Erin brought to treat me for her kids baby-sitting Mitch last Saturday. This feels so wrong -- scoring yarn and alpaca for doing NOTHING?! But of course I'm loving it. (The photo doesn't do justice to the fleece -- it's beautiful and sooooft) It's a first shearing of a young alpaca.

She made the right choice to buy a raw fleece for me, not processed rovings, as I've been wanting to experience the whole process -- alpaca to shawl. I just hope that my skill is up to spinning alpaca.

I am looking forward to reading her post about the alpaca farm she visited! I want to fantasize more about owning a farm. Anyone have a spare land lying around? :-)

I've finished a pair of kid's mittens.

These are for my son's preschool teacher -- she's been asking for them for her nephew. I've improvised the pattern, as you can see from the rather uneven result! I used the leftover yarn from Mitch's mittens and hat, plus from Knitpicks Parade sock yarn. It's just too bad that they discontinued this yarn, as I love it... Very easy to work with, and produces great socks (and mittens)!

Everybody Wants Fingerless Mittens

The number of visitors to our blog who's after "fingerless mittens" patterns has not decreased. Many reach to Liz' post after googling "fingerless mittens handcuffs flat knit" or very similar combinations. And of course, there are several visitors who were obviously after some very different destinations -- "woman in handcuffs." Just imagine the frustration and irritation our site must have caused to this poor guy. Someone needs to knit real handcuffs and post it, wearing them! Any volunteers?

Just some pointers to the knitters who came after fingerless mittens --

Magknits has a nice pattern called Lucky K8, which I do plan to knit sometime.

Knitty has a popular pattern, Fetching.

There is a beautiful pattern in the book called "Folk Style," which I've bought recently, along with the brand-spanking new "The Best of Interweave Knits."

I actually am in search of a child's mitten pattern that uses DPNs and knitted round, as opposed to many visitors who are looking to knit in flat. I don't like sewing with mattress stitch, and I try to avoid it as much as I can. Any leads?

I finally have a real FO with my handspun -- other than the wacky FO of the pirate's blankie! I have many WIP with my yarn, but it feels great to finally finish one.

With my mint-green superwash I spun a while ago. The socks have the "rustic" look, and very comfy. I just love them.

With US 2 DPNs, casted on 48, 4 x 2 ribs with some cables on the cuffs. It's my own design, although I'm sure there are similar patterns!

I need to cast on! I'm just not sure what. I have so many things I want to knit.

I'm done with traveling

I flew to Montreal last week. It was my third trip there this year, fifth to Canada. I've been traveling so much this year that my suitcase just lies by my bed all the time.


I don't really enjoy going on business trip. One thing is that I always end up working 15 hours a day. I have nothing else to do -- no house work, no child to take care of, no commuting. I spend all of my time in front of my laptop. I don't sleep well while I'm in east coast anyway.


It's getting old and tiring -- especially when I have to spend nearly six hours in the tiny seat with no leg room flying. But this time, I've had it. I'm so done with traveling.


The direct flight was full, so I chose a connecting flight from SFO to Denver, then Montreal. That was a mistake. My luggage didn't arrive! I was stranded in Montreal, just with my laptop.

(From the hotel window -- Cathedrale Marie-reine-du-monde.

Only picture I took while in Montreal!)

For the next two days, I was without my clothes, toiletries, glasses, power supply for my laptop and cell phone, knitting magazine and .... my handspun yarn!!!


I went to buy a shirt and bare essentials, hoping that the suitcase is just "delayed" as Air Canada kept describing, not "lost." I had my favorite hand knitted socks in it too. Surely two days later, three o'clock in the morning, it arrived at my hotel. I gave up trying to go back to sleep, and knitted some, lying in bed.


I am so done. I don't like being away from my family. I don't like being away from home. I just want to stay home, spin, and knit for a while.

Dognapping during Knit Night!

It was a perfectly wonderful Knit Night set for Saturday instead of Friday night. We all contributed food or drink. Liz was missing as she went camping, and we added Tina and her daughter Isabella. Everything was wonderful. We had good food, good friends, good yarn, pointy sticks, a spinning wheel and loom. What else could we ask for (other than having Liz there)? At one point during the cooking of the last of the "Make your own pizzas", our house filled with smoke. No problem, just open up the doors and air out the place. Problem solved. Little did we know that the problem was just beginning.

A little while later the phone rings and my hubby answers. A woman on the other end asks if we are missing our dog. Hubby responds "Ahhhh, I don't know". Let's face it - we had a house full of people, food was happening, smoke was happening, the place was being aired out - OH SHOOT the dog got out! Hubby searches around the house and yard and doesn't find the dog. Woman on the phone feels that my husband doesn't care about our dog and they exchange a couple of not so nice comments to each other. It turns out that the woman who called found our dog, June, on Novato Blvd. June almost got hit by a car. The woman picks up our dog, but has to get home in a hurry so she takes our dog to her home in SAN LEANDRO! Now, if your not familiar with this area, let me explain that it takes 45 minutes to a hour to drive to San Leandro. The woman was calling from her home. My husband is angry that this woman took our dog, more less than polite words were exchanged and the woman now hangs up on my husband. He tries to call her back, but the call goes right to voicemail. Hubby is furious, woman is furious and our dog is at a stranger's home. What was June thinking? Was she missing home? How were we going to get her back? That's where I came in. I called the woman and left a frantic message for her. I wanted her to know that we were worried about our dog, and we wanted our dog back! The woman responded to this message and calls right back. I get directions to her house, but she tries to talk me into picking up my dog tomorrow. Hubby leaves right away with our oldest son and his friend to pick up the dog. The knitters, spinners and weavers wait at my home until we get good news.



After about 45 minutes I phone hubby and he is in San Leandro, but he is now waiting for police to meet him. He decided that he needed to call the police to help in this matter. He didn't know what would happen as this was a very odd thing to happen. The police are more than happy to escort him to the house. The woman answers the door somewhat surprised to see the police, and says to my husband "Well, you're a piece of work. I can't believe you are treating me this way after I saved your dog." My husband got June, and the police said he could leave. They stayed to listen to this woman rant about how horrible my husband was to her and how he didn't care about his dog.

All I have to say is thank goodness my knitting pals were there with me to help me pass the time while worrying about my dog. I couldn't knit, but instead tried to busy myself by serving pie, ice cream and coffee. It was yummy apple pie that Tamami made from apples Mitch picked from their tree. Thanks to everyone for their support during this trying time.

Ok, now I have a question for you: Isn't it odd that a woman wanted to save a dog, but didn't call the owners until she was an hour drive away? Let me know in the comments if you think this is weird. Charles thinks it could have been a ploy to extort money out of us. What are your thoughts?

New Everything

Erin has a new carpet and hardwood floor.

Huguette has two new kitties.

Liz has a new job.

Tamami has a new door. New roof to come soon too.

This calls for a Knit Night!

California Wool and Fiber Festival

So we went to THE event that was supposed to be my last fiber-purchasing opportunity for the year 2007!

Boonville is about 90 minutes drive from Novato. It's famous (well, at least to the Northern California beer fans like me) for the great Boonz Beer :-) Wool and beer, the best combination.

I was envisioning an event a little bigger than Lambtown, but I'm not so sure if it's any bigger. And since the fiber vendors and events were confined in one building, it did feel a bit smaller than Lambtown, which was out in the open, with a lot of room to walk around.

The best treat for me was seeing Nancy, who was helping out Carolina Homespun booth. Nancy is my spinning teacher who gave me a session a year ago! Grumph, I forgot to take a picture of us together. I just didn't do well with the photo taking this time, and I don't know why.

Here's a real Navajo spinning. This was the first time I saw a Navajo spindle and the demonstration.
I also saw Charka -- It goes really fast and I was fascinated. Yup, I forgot to photograph! I got to test drive a motorized spinner, and yup, no pictures.

This wasn't the first shearing demonstration Mitch saw, but he was intrigued by Navajo-Churro sheep shearing.

I was on my third shark-circling while the boys watched the shearing, so I missed the explanation, but apparently Navajo-Churro is a very rare breed of sheep. At one time it was facing extinction. The kind lady gave us a handful for souvenir. Of course it really made me happy!

Just 5 grams with lots of grease. It feels very coarse. I'd love to spin only on its own, but I probably blend with something else to stretch it.

Hi Woolie. Be happy and grow wool.

We drove a lot this weekend -- Saturday, to Boonville, Sunday to Williams to tow the CAP glider. Thanks to all that time in the car, my red tweed socks are very close to be done, finally, after two months of being on the needles! I had to finish these up so I can free up the US 2 DPNs -- I only have one set. I am itching to knit a new pair, using my handspun.