I am poking around on line to see if I could find the yarn that was used in a shawl that I looked at when Mitzi and I visited the yarn shop in Kanawha City. I found an amazing website:
It is fun just to read.
Thursday, July 21, 2016
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
Dar's shawls and the fiber festival in September
We knitted at the Wild Ramp today. Dar brought her three shawls. I LOVE them! I want to think about buying the patterns that she used from Very Busy Monkey on Ravelry and also about buying the yarn that she used from Fiber Optics which was a sock yarn. Her shawls were knit on size 6 needles with lovely patterns. All three shawls are from Very Busy Monkey's National Park Collection.
The pink one is Bryce Canyon.
The Blue one with a leaf motif is Olympic National Park
The next Shawl is knit from a pattern called Geology.
The pink one is Bryce Canyon.
The Blue one with a leaf motif is Olympic National Park
The next Shawl is knit from a pattern called Geology.
Sunday, July 10, 2016
Alpaca Yarn
Our Wild Ramp Yarn Therapy group planned a visit to an Alpaca Farm for Friday, July 8. Sally Summerfield found the farm by serendipity on her way back from the summer vacation in Michigan. I had seen many Alpacas in Peru and wasn't sure that I was that excited about seeing a few more. But I like the group that was going and I offered to drive. After finding a substitute for tennis, I was committed to the trip.
The location of the farm is just south of Columbus:
Robin and Aaron were very welcoming. Aaron is very quiet. But Robin is a natural at sharing her passion for these animals. There is no doubt that the family is is committed to running a very efficient, clean, modern production farm. As Robin said many times, there is a lot of feeding, watering, and poop scooping that goes on at this farm. I was fascinated! I just couldn't quit asking questions and taking in how much thought goes into this place! The animals clearly love Robin and she clearly loves the animals.
Since our group is interested in yarn, we spent a great deal of time (after our tour of the animals) talking with Robin.....giving her our thoughts of how best to market the fleeces of her flock. She is not a knitter nor does she do any craft that uses her fleeces. She loves the animals. Robin provided lunch for us which we had not expected. She absolutely did everything in her power to make us feel welcome!
The highlight of the day was, of course, diving into her wonderful yarn. Because Robin nor Aaron are knitters, they had turned all of the fleece from previous years into DK weight yarn. One of our suggestions was that in the future, they might want to make some of them into fingering and worsted weigh yarn. But the DK weight yarn is lovely! Even though I am embarrassed at my stash at the moment, I could not resist the temptation to buy several skeins. Here is my new addition to my stash:
The location of the farm is just south of Columbus:
Robin and Aaron were very welcoming. Aaron is very quiet. But Robin is a natural at sharing her passion for these animals. There is no doubt that the family is is committed to running a very efficient, clean, modern production farm. As Robin said many times, there is a lot of feeding, watering, and poop scooping that goes on at this farm. I was fascinated! I just couldn't quit asking questions and taking in how much thought goes into this place! The animals clearly love Robin and she clearly loves the animals.
Since our group is interested in yarn, we spent a great deal of time (after our tour of the animals) talking with Robin.....giving her our thoughts of how best to market the fleeces of her flock. She is not a knitter nor does she do any craft that uses her fleeces. She loves the animals. Robin provided lunch for us which we had not expected. She absolutely did everything in her power to make us feel welcome!
The highlight of the day was, of course, diving into her wonderful yarn. Because Robin nor Aaron are knitters, they had turned all of the fleece from previous years into DK weight yarn. One of our suggestions was that in the future, they might want to make some of them into fingering and worsted weigh yarn. But the DK weight yarn is lovely! Even though I am embarrassed at my stash at the moment, I could not resist the temptation to buy several skeins. Here is my new addition to my stash:
All of the yarn is in the natural colors of the flock. The light yarn comes from a blend of the fleece of Addison and Gabby. The almost black come from a blend of Timbo, Ashton, Avery and Renegade.
The grey comes from a blend of Jewell, Adorable, and Caesar.
The yarn is processed at America's Natural Fireworks near Cincinnati.
I bought both the light and the very dark yarn to make the beautiful cowl that Sally Summerfield produced in a cooperative agreement between herself and Robin on her last visit. Robin sent yarn home with Sally. Sally took the finished result back to the shop on our visit. The Cowl is for sale through Robin's shop. The two women will divide up the profit made on the finished Cowl.
I took this photo from the Facebook page of our Wild Ramp Yarn Therapy group:
Sally used the pattern that she found on Ravelry by Louise Felice called Lacy Cowl:
I am not convinced that the cowl on Ravelry is as large as the one that Sally made. Sally said that she sewed a rectangle together that I measured to be 30 inches by 14 inches. Sally said that it took 300 yards of Alpaca yarn to produce. I am thinking that she explained that the cowl is a a multiple of nine stitches plus four. And that she added an extra 9 or 18 or 27 stitches to the pattern in order to make it the 14 inches. She said that she used size 10 needles to make it so open and loose. It is honestly even prettier in person, although this is a very good photo.
The grey I might use for a larger project and I bought 5 skeins of it. The label on the skeins says 175 yards + or - .....so I am thinking that I have around 875 yards of yarn in DK weight.
We also looked at a cowl that is for sale in Robin's shop that was made by a friend of Robin's. The lady made a rectangle that is 34-35 inches long and 11 inches wide. When she sewed it together, she offset the edges halfway. I am not sure that I can explain it, so I'll include a rough hand drawn picture. The edge of one side was sewn to the middle of the other side (5 1/2inches from edge).
Because of the very dark yarn, the photo does not show the cowl very well. The lady actually used crochet that looks very much like a very heavy ribs. She had used at least four yarn plies held together. It was very heavy. But very pretty.
One more thought before I publish this, I asked on the way home what size needles the women in the car thought that we might want to use on this yarn. Since it is DK weight, one might expect to knit on size 5-7 needles. I found this information on a great chart on the following site:
So my real question is if I double it what might I expect. The consensus of opinion is that if one doubles DK yarn, ....oh phooey, I can't remember for sure....I'll add this after I ask again on Tuesday.
Friday, June 17, 2016
Sarah's Scarf for her graduating Chief of Residents
Sarah and I both knitted the entire trip in Peru. Sarah is trying to finish three scarfs to give to the three graduating Chief residents. Sarah finished the first one. She used my Gossamer Rhapsody Light shawl pattern and some Art Yarn Rhapsody yarn that I had on hand in my stash. The scarf is a beautiful blue and I will add a photo at the end of this blog post.
The second scarf is made from yarn that Sarah bought in Williston: Juniper Farms Findley Dappled.
It is 50% merino and 50% silk. It is lace yarn weight and meant to be knitted on small needles. Sarah is using size 8 needles to make it go faster. I like the way that it drapes with the larger needles. Sarah suggests that she might have used an even larger needle. It is pretty when one looks at the project, but it is even prettier when Sarah models it. And the yarn and cowl are REALLY soft! I like it a lot.
Sarah used a provisional cast on for this project. I have mostly been knitting infinity scarves in the round. But I am going to try this method for my next project as one can keep trying it on to get the right length instead of being stuck with the size that one chose at the beginning. The edges roll because she used knit stitch totally....but the scarf looks very pretty just the way it is. Sarah counted for me that she cast on 90 stitches. 1 Skein of the yarn is plenty. Here is the information from the Webbs yarn site about this yarn:
This information taken from:
http://www.yarn.com/webs-knitting-crochet-yarns-juniper-moon-farm/
The second scarf is made from yarn that Sarah bought in Williston: Juniper Farms Findley Dappled.
It is 50% merino and 50% silk. It is lace yarn weight and meant to be knitted on small needles. Sarah is using size 8 needles to make it go faster. I like the way that it drapes with the larger needles. Sarah suggests that she might have used an even larger needle. It is pretty when one looks at the project, but it is even prettier when Sarah models it. And the yarn and cowl are REALLY soft! I like it a lot.
Sarah used a provisional cast on for this project. I have mostly been knitting infinity scarves in the round. But I am going to try this method for my next project as one can keep trying it on to get the right length instead of being stuck with the size that one chose at the beginning. The edges roll because she used knit stitch totally....but the scarf looks very pretty just the way it is. Sarah counted for me that she cast on 90 stitches. 1 Skein of the yarn is plenty. Here is the information from the Webbs yarn site about this yarn:
This information taken from:
http://www.yarn.com/webs-knitting-crochet-yarns-juniper-moon-farm/
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
Peru
Of course, I will have to buy some yarn in Peru! I have already blogged information from Martha Hood at:
http://marshamosesknitting.blogspot.com/2015/10/peru.html?m=1
But here are some more ideas:
The yarn used is 50% Merino and 50% mohair. The designer used almost 1000 yds. It is knitted on size 7 (4.5 mm) needles
Triangular Scarf:
This pattern calls for US 13 needles (9mm). It needs 270 yes of yarn.
The next pattern is for lace weight yarn held double. The photo shows a yarn that is 70% Alpaca and 30% silk. It is knit on size 8 needles and requires 440 yards of three colors of lace weight yarn:
The next pattern is a simple but effective shawl in Chunky Yarn. It calls for 500 yards of yarn and is knit on US 11 needles (size 8mm)
http://marshamosesknitting.blogspot.com/2015/10/peru.html?m=1
But here are some more ideas:
The yarn used is 50% Merino and 50% mohair. The designer used almost 1000 yds. It is knitted on size 7 (4.5 mm) needles
Triangular Scarf:
This pattern calls for US 13 needles (9mm). It needs 270 yes of yarn.
The next pattern is for lace weight yarn held double. The photo shows a yarn that is 70% Alpaca and 30% silk. It is knit on size 8 needles and requires 440 yards of three colors of lace weight yarn:
The next pattern is a simple but effective shawl in Chunky Yarn. It calls for 500 yards of yarn and is knit on US 11 needles (size 8mm)
Friday, May 27, 2016
Memorial Day shopping
I am eating dinner on my porch and reading e-mails when I was distracted by a sale at Love knitting. The knitting sites remind me a lot of car dealerships. There is ALWAYS a huge sale going on. I am not actually buying tonight. I am browsing. And here are my thoughts. ( I actually updated this blog post next day as I bought some of the yarn and patterns that I had looked at)
I downloaded a free pattern on Ravelry that I have filed in Knitting: Scarfs and Cowls in drop box. It is labelled: DropStitchCowl2015.pdf
The yarn that I am looking at for this pattern is Plymouth Colca Canyon which is usually $18 and is on sale until the end of the weekend for $13.50. I like the green and the gold and the brown. I think that I probably need three skeins of the yarn in whichever color I choose. I did not end up buying this yarn.
Debbie Bliss Boheme is on sale. It is usually $9.80 on Love Knitting and is on sale for $5.05. It knits on US 13 needles. It has 54 yards in a skein. I bought the pattern for the Triangular scarf shown below. It can be found both on Ravelry and in dropbox in file for Scarfs and Cowls with name 22-Triangular scarf. I bought 5 skeins of the yarn in Ruggero from Love Knitting.
The yarn is very pretty. I like the Ruggero which is shown below:
There is a lovely Louisa Harding yarn on sale: Esquel
Here is the color of Esquel that I bought:
It is normally $7.85 on sale for $4.70. The colors are lovely. The pattern that I like is called Creeper by Louisa Harding. It uses Aran yarn and US 10 needles. It calls for 218 yards of yarn. It is available on Ravelry. I just bought both the gold Esquel yarn and the pattern. The Creeper pattern is stored on my Ravelry site as Creeper.
Here is a photo of the Creeper that I hope to use for the Esquel yarn:
The Louisa Harding Grace that I used for the twined hat is also on sale. It is usually $12.75 and is on sale for $8.25. 50 % Merino and 50% silk....the colors are wonderful! 110 yards, size 5mm needles. I just looked and yarn.com had this yarn on sale for $6.99.
I can't seem to quit browsing this weekend. Here are a few more things that I am considering:
Cascade Rabat is on sale at Craftsy. Regularly it is $16 and is on sale for $8.97. I have two patterns in mind for this yarn. One is Purl Ridge Scarf by Stephen West on Revelry. I have added the pattern to my favorites on Ravelry. The other is Lala's Simple shawl that is on my drop box project file. Cascade Rabat has 109 yards in a skein. It is a bulky weight yarn that is knit on size 10 needles. I would need 6 skeins for the Lala's shawl and 3 skeins for the Purl Ridge Scarf.
Craftsy also has Cascade Eco on sale this weekend. It is 100% Peruvian Wool that is usually $23.75 on sale for $15.44. The colors are beautiful! It is a bulky yarn to be knit with size 9 or 10 needles and has 478 yards in a skein.
Craftsy also has Cascade Alpaca Lace Yarn on sale...ususally $10 and on sale for $7.00. It is also a Peruvian Wool. It has 437 yards in a skein. I am wondering if it would be suitable for the neck piece that Sally Summerfield made with the Wolle yarn. It is to be knit on a size 2 needle. Rowan Fine Art Yarn is on sale as well and is knit on a size 2 or 3 needle. The color way that I like is Pheasant. It is regularly $29.95 and is on sale for $13.47. It also has 437 yards in a skein.
I downloaded a free pattern on Ravelry that I have filed in Knitting: Scarfs and Cowls in drop box. It is labelled: DropStitchCowl2015.pdf
The yarn that I am looking at for this pattern is Plymouth Colca Canyon which is usually $18 and is on sale until the end of the weekend for $13.50. I like the green and the gold and the brown. I think that I probably need three skeins of the yarn in whichever color I choose. I did not end up buying this yarn.
Debbie Bliss Boheme is on sale. It is usually $9.80 on Love Knitting and is on sale for $5.05. It knits on US 13 needles. It has 54 yards in a skein. I bought the pattern for the Triangular scarf shown below. It can be found both on Ravelry and in dropbox in file for Scarfs and Cowls with name 22-Triangular scarf. I bought 5 skeins of the yarn in Ruggero from Love Knitting.
The yarn is very pretty. I like the Ruggero which is shown below:
There is a lovely Louisa Harding yarn on sale: Esquel
Here is the color of Esquel that I bought:
It is normally $7.85 on sale for $4.70. The colors are lovely. The pattern that I like is called Creeper by Louisa Harding. It uses Aran yarn and US 10 needles. It calls for 218 yards of yarn. It is available on Ravelry. I just bought both the gold Esquel yarn and the pattern. The Creeper pattern is stored on my Ravelry site as Creeper.
Here is a photo of the Creeper that I hope to use for the Esquel yarn:
The Louisa Harding Grace that I used for the twined hat is also on sale. It is usually $12.75 and is on sale for $8.25. 50 % Merino and 50% silk....the colors are wonderful! 110 yards, size 5mm needles. I just looked and yarn.com had this yarn on sale for $6.99.
I can't seem to quit browsing this weekend. Here are a few more things that I am considering:
Cascade Rabat is on sale at Craftsy. Regularly it is $16 and is on sale for $8.97. I have two patterns in mind for this yarn. One is Purl Ridge Scarf by Stephen West on Revelry. I have added the pattern to my favorites on Ravelry. The other is Lala's Simple shawl that is on my drop box project file. Cascade Rabat has 109 yards in a skein. It is a bulky weight yarn that is knit on size 10 needles. I would need 6 skeins for the Lala's shawl and 3 skeins for the Purl Ridge Scarf.
Craftsy also has Cascade Eco on sale this weekend. It is 100% Peruvian Wool that is usually $23.75 on sale for $15.44. The colors are beautiful! It is a bulky yarn to be knit with size 9 or 10 needles and has 478 yards in a skein.
Craftsy also has Cascade Alpaca Lace Yarn on sale...ususally $10 and on sale for $7.00. It is also a Peruvian Wool. It has 437 yards in a skein. I am wondering if it would be suitable for the neck piece that Sally Summerfield made with the Wolle yarn. It is to be knit on a size 2 needle. Rowan Fine Art Yarn is on sale as well and is knit on a size 2 or 3 needle. The color way that I like is Pheasant. It is regularly $29.95 and is on sale for $13.47. It also has 437 yards in a skein.
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
Self striping socks
I am adding this information in Feb 2016. Everyone is making socks this winter in our group. Kelly brought some new sock yarn with her today to share. It is from Nomadic Yarns. It is called Twisty Sock and comes in 400 yard skeins. The colors are particularly nice and can be seen on-line. It is very fun that the socks have Harry Potter names.
We met at the Wild Ramp for knitting this afternoon. Dar had finished one self striping sock and was working on the other. The yarn was great and her sock was amazing! I would love to make some of these.
Dar says she gets the yarn from Knit Picks. She says that they sell out of it very quickly. It would make wonderful ski socks!
We met at the Wild Ramp for knitting this afternoon. Dar had finished one self striping sock and was working on the other. The yarn was great and her sock was amazing! I would love to make some of these.
Dar says she gets the yarn from Knit Picks. She says that they sell out of it very quickly. It would make wonderful ski socks!
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