Camping with Mom

 Every year Mom and I camp out at Wisconsin Sheep and Wool. Sometimes we have classes to attend, sometimes others join us. We camp in the same spot each year for a few years now and have friends we have met there as neighbors each year. There is a pavilion right where we camp and the bathrooms - with hot showers - are just across the way. We are far from the action at this spot but that has its charm too. After we got out site set up out came the spinning for me and knitting for Mom.

Mom took these pictures to show the family how we were doing. The van was parked there to try to block the wind, it was fairly cold for September.

This is my Mom, Robin.

I got a few shots in myself. We bring a hot plate, a toaster oven and this year a electric kettle and make our meals. We both love cooking and tend to fix ridiculously complicated things for camping. This year's highlights are Mussel stew, crepes, Yorkshire pudding with three mushroom hash, and a steamed lemon pudding, and scones for tea time. The kettle was a great addition helping not just in tea and coffee making but also in clean up time. 

This little guy was also camping out at the festival. These are Shetland sheep. The darker sheep is full grown, the brown and white spotted sheep is a Jacobs and that breed in average sized for sheep. Shetland are tiny.

Sheep and wool

what had to come home with me.

 Plying thread from Interlacements.

 This is Texcel wool, Mom and I are splitting a 8oz bag. She will be felting I will be spinning. Texcel is normally a meat breed, but I want to try all the things.

 One oz samplers from Hearthside Fibers Whitefaced Woodland Sheep, Shetland Sheep, Egyptian cotton, Baby Llama, Masham sheep, and  Swaledale Sheep

 Welsh Mountain Sheep, Perendale Sheep, Hemp, Rambouillet Sheep and Gotland

 This is one oz of Columbia wool from All American Mill

 5oz of Flax from the WoolGatherers

 Two 2oz braids of Nylon from Hello Purl

 A cute thing also from Hello Purl

Weld from Handspun by Stephania.
A tiny Shawl pin By Ingrid the Crafty
A Nalbining needle and a comb clamp from Mielke's

 A pair of knitting pins from Celestial Designs Fiber Art

 This cute shawl pattern

 These two old books from the Woolgatherers

And this signed copy from Jilliano Moreno.

I also got a Paula Simmons book on wool as a cottage industry. Most of this will be used in pursuit of my COE. Mom and I camp for the whole time and really enjoyed ourselves.

Some Mondays are more Monday than others

We had a long lovely weekend, with a dear friend getting married and a friend party for Badger's birthday. The party was cat themed and everyone had fun. The wedding was extra special because of the obvious joy of the couple and getting to see far away friends.
All that fun, however, means everyone was just a bit slower this morning getting moving back into routine. Mouse gets dropped off at 7 and the girls go with ready for their drop off at 7:30. The schools aren't that far apart, so we play on the playground or read in the car. They don't actually go into the building until almost 8, so when the weather is bad I am thankful I can stay and let them be in the car. When the weather is super bad or it is raining they can go inside, but I like being able to stay with them.
This morning was already a bit rough, as a said, and we were sitting listening to the songs Bunny is learning on violin, when the radio killed. The weekend before my battery was drained, light left on, at Wisconsin Sheep and Wool, so I had the kids go on to school and hoped to get home quickly.  Nope.
I immediately realized that was not happening and managed to get parked again.
Jim came out to save me. My serpentine belt has apparently been shredding. I had mentioned I thought I heard a flapping noise last week he told me to see what wrong, I said i could open the hood but wouldn't know anything thereafter. So when he opened it this morning he said even you would know this was wrong. I don't think that helped either of us, but I wished I had looked!
He had a meeting so we left the car there and picked up a new belt on the way home.
Now to housecleaning, the basement is a complete disaster and I hope to get it done this week, while still having time for everything else. I always seem to think I have more time than I really do.

Sheep - BFL

Bluefaced Leicester affectionately known as BFL.

BFL is originally from Northumberland and was primarily raised for meat. However, its fluffy wool is a hand-spinning favorite. Fleeces average between 2.2 –and 6.6 pounds. Rams weight between 200 and 250 pounds with Ewes weight between 150-175 pounds. BFL is often used to add hardiness to other sheep breeds.

This is a long-wool breed with a staple length between 3-6 inches and a micron count of 24-28. It is semi-lustrous and quality fleece will have no kemp or hair fibers.

The sheep is said to have deep blue skin with white wool. I am unsure if this means blue in the same way a Russian Blue cat is actually a grey cat, or if they are really blue, but I plan on checking at sheep and wool, live and in person. I am hoping for blue, blue! The breed does carry a recessive gene for dark wool and can present with soft spotted tones or fully darker wool. It should not ever have clearly defined spots.

This breed has no wool on its head, belly, genitals, and utters. It is considered to be an athletic breed with a bold carriage and Roman nose.

Woolly Wednesday - boucle and friends

Join us for Woolly Wednesday at Spinspiration!

I did a fair amount of spinning in February and did some dyeing.

This is Paduck sawdust. I am working on the ratios for dyeing. I did up 4oz of East Friesan wool with this. It turned an orangey pink. I then took half and after-bathed it in an iron solution. It is an interesting pink/purple. I think I needed to use more wood dust to woo.l Next time!

This is a woolen spinning of a BFL and  mohair mix that I got at this year's Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival.

First skein of the same as above, I normally spin worseted and fair fine, so this was something new for me. It is very soft. I am thinking I will spin up all that I have of this and try weaving with it - first project one my loom?!  Maybe a lustery white/cream for the warp or a deeper blue....

Following instructions in an old Spinoff Magazine, I tried my hand at boucle. The wool is Polwort and tussah silk.  After the first plying(of three) I was certain I would regret this, but it turned out nice.  Due to running out of sewing thread to ply it with I ended up with 2 skeins, one 198yards long and the other with a copper strand (pictured) at 110 yards.

I made this one at a crafting retreat. I had nearly run out of wool (with me) use a little black left, so I spun it fine to make it last. When I ran out I bought (well more wool,) but also a yarn by Mary Maxim with sparkles and some mohair content.  I strung a bunch of large-ish glass beads on the commercial yarn and plyed it to the yarn I spun. I love the results.

I blended some wool I got for Christmas - a 3# bag O' crap from the Sheep Shed - I think it has some mohair in it but can't be sure.  I really like the colorway and as I had Lord of the Rings on while I was spinning it, I think it is a elven forest yarn.

I took some orange (I think it was suppose to felting wool, but it spun great) and mixed it with a cream wool and sparkle for this one.  A friend, who makes beautiful dolls, kept saying I made Rapunzel's hair.

My wonderful husband, who is clearly tired of me drying wool in the kitchen and bathroom, hung these hooks above the laundry sink (completely on his own) for me. The skein hanging there is the first boucle skein.

 I hope you are spinning up a creative storm! ~ Julia

adventures in wool part two

 A fitting alternative title would be the trouble with bees.  I would have taken a picture of the goldenrod I used to dye this but I was busy.  I went out and gathered all the goldenrod from the yard I could find.  I saw the bees but thought I was being careful about knocking them off before I collected the flowers.  My husband is allergic, which prompted me to actually fit up the front porch as a dyeing studio, pictures of that later. So I only intended to bring the flowers into the house long enough to weight them I needed a 10:1 ratio for the dye vat. After accounting for the weight of the container I had just shy of 11 oz and called it good enough.  I dumped the flowers into the pot and started filling it with water when I noticed the pot was crawling with bees!

 I raced it outside and turned the hot water hose on. After filling up the pot and soaking the bees I decided to leave it for them to dry off and fly away while I got Butterfly home from school.  Yeah, not so much.  They dried off, but where still collecting from the flowers that stuck above the waterline. So I poked them with a stick and flung them away.  I then set the pot to boil.  The pictures above are the wool I got for my adventure, I think the color is prettier in person.

 Spinning project I am working on. I have four skeins like this so far.

 1+ lb of Bluefaced Leister/Romney cross, professionally milled and dyed pale indigo. I bought this at Wisconsin Sheep and Wool, which was awesome! Next year Mom and I are leaving Dad at home, as he did not have as nice a time as we did.  Mom decided to take up wool rug hooking while we were there.

I also got this 4+lbs of East Freisan/poly cross.  It is dirty but lovely. I spent about the same for these fleeces highlighting the need for a drum carder.  I also got an oz of silk hankies in pinks and browns.

I hope you project adventures are going well & without bees!~ Julia

wheel and treats

just when I feel like me schedule will allow me to begin posting again, my laptop stops working and my husband is too busy to fix it! So computer access these days requires wriggling through a que of four children, who all play nicely and cooperate while using the computer.  Um, yeah I'll read a book or spin like a mad fiend instead.  The upside I have gotten a lot of spinning, reading, crocheting, and knitting done. Downside, I am generally checking my email after the person who sent it has called to ask why I am not answering!

So here are some pictures of what I have been doing.

The first skein.

my favorite seat in the house

Shiny new wheel, now with footprints.

The back is that fun merino that Donna of Ester's place gave me. The front is a roving I bought from Fine Line.

This has tiny pink beads strung on it.

A white my MIL bought me mixed with the leftover wool that came with my wheel.

Finished throw.

Yarn cave. Who would not want a yarn cave?!

Some of the pretties.

Same spot different yarn.

Yes, I do have yarn hanging from everywhere. The white is from the wool I bought at Sheep and Wool, very dirty.  I figured out what I was doing wrong in scouring. I have hard water and should be using detergent not soap.

This the wool the wheel came with, and the first skein.

Pretty roving I picked up at Fiddlehead Yarns.

I hope you have had a creative and productive few weeks! ~ Julia

Yarn along - knitting rainbows

Knitting with the ladies of the yarn along - you should check it out and join us.  Ginny at Small Things is our wonderful hostess.

I continue to work on Butterfly's sweater.  Do you see what I have there? A sleeve.  I have one finished and the second started!!!!  I am beginning to worry about the amount of yarn I have left.  I have been listening to audio books while knitting (and doing dishes and sewing and just about any thing else.) the current one is Lost City by Clive Cussler.  Scifi book with heavy good guys bad guys theme but the science is not too far out there and the descriptions of places and time periods are wonderful.  One of my favorite authors.

This is the wool I bought at Sheep & Wool all washed up and drying (hopefully) in the driveway.  (sorry, cream wool on beige sheet does not a great shot make.) I washed it on Monday and really hope it will get dry today.  I think if I start doing this all the time I will need a table that is part solid and part mesh drying rack.

I look forward to seeing what you are working on and reading. - Julia

Biting off more than I could chew - almost.

Yesterday, I woke with plans and ideas, goals and agendas.  Enough of them to fill two days at least, but often I find that not knowing you can't do something mixed with a bit (okay a lot) of stubbornness, means you end up getting it done.

Sunday I knit.  I mean I sat at the table with an audio book and knit. All day.  Except for the few minutes I took a break.  During my break I went to the garden and picked a bucket of tomatoes and a over flowing bucket of apples from our tree.  (It produced better this year - after heavy pruning -  but I need a plan for less bugs so if you know what I should do give me a yell.)  I looked up a jelly recipe by David Lebovitz and I was off.  I chopped them up tossed them into the water, cooked them and placed them in a lined colander over-night as described.  Later, I was reading while knitting and say a recipe for carrot jam.  Ignoring the time - 10pm - and the apple jelly makings already started.  I grated a kg of Carrots. 

If we back up one more day we see the rest of the problem, on Saturday I went to Beaver's award ceremony (more on that later) and then to the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool festival.  I wandered in delight and bought 6# of Frisian wool (dirty) and a small ball of  clean carded dyed indigo wool.  I tucked the wool into my studio and shut the down.  When next I went in it smelled very strongly of sheep, very dirty sheep.  So I needed to wash that wool right away, I noticed this on Sunday.

So I bounded out of bed yesterday with plans!  make that PLANS!  Written it does not seem bad, wash wool, make apple jelly, make apple butter from leftover apple parts, make carrot jam, wash and hang old diapers on line to make into wash rags some other time, run to store and get elastic lace, and a 4H meeting. 

I started in on the wool bright and early, I set up a baby gate with a sheet over it to dry the wool on and got out two pots to wash in.  It was amazing, the day just waking up a bite of cool in the air, hot sudsy water, creamy yellow wool.  In it went.  15 minutes later I was startled to find I had white wool.  And so began the process of switching it to a new pot of water every 15 minutes until I got it as clean as I thought was likely.

In those first 15 minutes while the process was still romantic and the day was brimming with purpose, remember that I had been up for 3 hours, gotten two boys to school and been to Walmart for extra canning lids (none there) and lemons (I bought 2 and needed 4,) I start the apple jelly and realized my mistake with the lemons.  Oh well I get them when I get the lace I don't need them until the carrot jam anyway.  *notice the optimism*

Every 15 minutes I ran outside to change the water on the wool.  When inside I was stirring the jelly to keep it from boiling over or scorching and running all the apple bits through a food processor then a food mill.  None difficult tasks but together too much.  When the jelly was done I was on to apple butter - I use equal parts fruit pulp to sugar - and while I changed the wool it scorched.  I dumped it into a new pot and tasted.  It was still good so I was still in business.  By the time I got that done it was 3:20 and time to start the boy retrieval process.  Once I had them, I ran into the grocery store for more lids and lemons, no time to get the lace as we it was 4 and we had to be eating by 5 in order to make the 6 pm meeting.  I actually got up from dinner to move the last batch of wool to it last pot of fresh water, and carried the whole baby gate thing into the garage before hopping in the car with the boys for the 4H meeting.  On the way home we got the lace, and as I was too tired to think clearly, we got elastic thread, and ribbon and various other things I can use but did not plan on buying. 

It is now 8:30 and I still have to make carrot jam.  I started it so it must be done.  It does not set and does not set and does not set.  When it finally does set there is so little liquid left, I did not feel it was safe to can, so I added a cup of sugar and a cup of water and start boiling again.  It set.  It is 11:30 before I find the bed.

I have 6# of washed wool - drying the rest of the way in the driveway.
I have all the old diaper still (oops) on the line but the sun bleaching will help.
I have 5 1/2 jars of beautiful pink apple jelly.
I have 10 1/2 jars of apple butter.
I have 6 1/2 jars of carrot jam or perhaps marmalade might be a better term.
I have the lace. 

Today's plan, straighten house including mopping and vacuuming, fold laundry, find battery charger for camera, study for class and knit.  I think I'll have the girl's paint and glue then give them a long bath.  I will not make jelly!!!