Hitchhiker with Stripes & Beads!

Yarn del Sol, my local shop, hosted a knit-along for a beaded version of the Hitchhiker scarf. It's an asymmetrical triangular shawl with 42 points on one edge. A very easy knit. The knit-along included instruction on how to add beads at each point.

I purchased a skein variegated light teals (yarn on the right) from In The Deep Hue Sea at YDS.

These were my beads of choice.

Then I started and stopped for many months knitting very slowly.

I eventually got to about the 30th point and realized that I was going to run out of yarn to make all 42 points. I could have stopped anytime but for some crazy reason was determined to make all 42 points! So I dug into my stash and found the lovely variegated dark teal yarn (left in first photo at top) I had leftover from another project. It's Ranco from Arucania Yarns. It was almost the same grist and the color was a great match.

I had created this little chart to count my rows. You'd think I could remember an 8 row repeat in garter stitch with increases on only one side. But I could never figure out which side I was on whenever I stopped. The chart was my memory. I also used it to work out stripes using a very short Fibonacci (D/L=Dark/Light yarn) sequence.

And the finished result. I think it turned out just great.

Weekend Scarf

I always see these articles proclaiming that one can weave a scarf in a weekend. That has never been my experience until now.

Yarn...Bamboo Pop. 50/50 Bamboo/Cotton purchased at Yarn del Sol.

Starting Friday night - one hour to warp and dress my 10" Schacht Cricket rigid heddle loom. Using direct warping method*, 8 dent reed, 64 ends, 3 yards long (2.7m). Start weaving.

Variegated warp with a solid weft. I wove about 10-12 inches per half hour.

Close up of loose weave. That's one reason why the weaving goes so fast.

4 hours total to weave 75 inches (190cm). Most on Saturday with the last 5 inches woven on Sunday morning. Cut off loom.

Twist fringe right away in just one hour. I love my fringe twister.

For easy care, throw in washer and dryer (to get full shrinkage of the bamboo/cotton yarn - about 14% shrinkage), press well with a hot iron and lots of steam. I wore it Monday morning!

You can weave a scarf in a weekend!

*Direct warping method. In 3 minutes. Or real time.

Studio 49 Retreat 2017 Challenge

I got this lovely creamy white Polwarth from the Studio 49 Retreat 2016 goodie bag. Two oz. of fiber. The challenge rules state that we can add up to 50% of other fiber if we want. I have this super soft natural grey BFL (Bluefaced Leiciester) roving that I am going to pair with the Polwarth. One ply of each, spun woolen with long draw. I haven't done a lot of long draw spinning so I thought I'd brush up my skills.

This bundle of fiber is for my sister who does not spin but does knit. And instead of fighting a deadline like I did for the 2016 retreat, I got started right away on spinning. 

The singles spun clockwise long draw.

And the finished yarn. Two ply, 334 yards, 4 oz. Still needs wet finishing.

For myself, I have 6 oz. of Polwarth to spin. The 2 oz. from the goodie bag and another 4 oz. I purchased. I may or may not add the BFL. The creamy white Polwarth is so pretty on it's own. I haven't decided yet what to do for my own bundle of fiber.

I have sampled different plies. Left to right, 4-ply cable, 3-ply (two plies of Polwarth and one of BFL), 2-ply (one ply each BFL and Polwarth), 2 ply both Polwarth.

Now I have to decide.

Weaving Demo

Ian's 4th grade teacher is teaching the class how to weave on a cardboard loom. It's part of a section on Native American studies they are learning about.

I volunteered to demo weaving on my Cricket loom. That's me showing samples. After showing the kids what I do, they got to weave on the loom themselves.

These are the finished samples. Each kid got to weave 2 picks of weft. The red sample is from Ian's Green team and the blue sample is from the Blue team.

I'm weaving off the rest of the warp and plan to felt the fabric to make coasters.

Cotton Bale

On a brisk December morning last winter, I had an opportunity to dig into a bale of Cotton.

Do you know how big a bale of cotton is?!? 450 lbs of ginned (the seeds removed) fiber. A block of cotton smashed into a rectangular shape about 5 ft by 3 ft by 3 ft. It was huge!

As you can see, the bale was a little dirty, a little saggy, but clean under the surface.

Since I didn't think I could spin 450 lbs. of cotton by myself any time soon, I thought I'd share. I invited spinners from my Saturday group and from GLASG to come and share the bounty. About 5 spinners showed up and more requested I save some for them to be delivered later. I was happy to do that.

As we dug into the fiber, we discovered that the center had rotted out and been eaten away by creatures unknown.

Close up of the center rot.

Then I heard the history of the bale from the Centennial Farm manager...The bale was purchased 20+ years ago to display with the few rows of cotton plants in the garden section of the farm. The bale was left outside in the elements for all that time. In late 2015 the management bought a new bale of cotton weighing in at a colossal  600 lbs. and was even bigger. Clean and now with it's own little house. No rot for this bale.

What to do with the old bale was the new problem. The farm was just going to throw it away. My local guild, SCWSG, demonstrates at the summer county fair every year so the they contacted us first. The offer was to have someone take it away in their giant RAM tough truck or set a date to have folks come and take what they wanted. I set a date and invited people. I'm kind of glad no one offered to take the whole bale after we discovered the rot inside. Ultimately, it was fun to dig into the cotton and rescue what we could. I estimate we salvaged altogether about 50 lbs. of fiber.

Ian had friends that came to visit the farm with us. What was left of the bale is behind them.

And just because they were so cute...I have to show the piglets we saw that day...

Mustard & Mushrooms

Mustard & Mushrooms. I won this fiber in a South Coast Weavers and Spinners Guild raffle sometime last year. 2 oz. of  Baby Camel, Merino Wool and Cultivated Silk from Capistrano Fiber Arts Studio. The fiber was originally called "Banana Slug". But I prefer my new choice. The fiber was a quick and fun spin. I chain-plied the single yarn to keep the colors clear. I ended up with 155 yards of 3 ply yarn.

This lovely fiber...

Became this yarn on my Ashford Joy wheel...

And then became this skein of squishy soft yarn...

 Here is a detail for the various colors. So pretty.

Studio 49 Retreat 2016

My 11th retreat with some wonderful people up in Northern CA. Part of the Motherlode Weavers & Spinners Guild, Studio 49 meets on Saturdays for more textile arts.

The first retreat was in 2006. I went with my dear friend, Kathleen, when I was 7 months pregnant with Ian. The weekend was intimate, small and full of comradery. I've been every year thus far and it has retained the same intimacy and friendship. I just love this group of weavers, spinners, knitters, dyers and artists. We've changed locations, weather fronts, food options and activities, but the loveliness remains the same.

My sister, mom and best friend caravaned up in two cars stuffed to the rafters with all the paraphernalia we might need for a 3 day stay. Sleeping gear, clothes for all weather, crafts to do, crafts to share, items to sell, gifts to give and of course an empty bag or two to bring home all the goodies we might collect.

Sunrise Saturday morning. The hill on the right is still a bit blackened from the Yosemite fire 2 years ago. We weren't sure if the retreat was going to happen that year. The fire was under control just in time.

Our shared Studio 49 Retreat 2015 10th anniversary fiber goodies. I love the different ways the same fiber get spun up with different hands touching it. My Deadline shawl is on the bottom right.

Made by retreat fairies, these handmade, hand quilted, hand appliqued placemats were a gift to every attendee at the annual luncheon tea. Aren't they just adorable?!?

Retreat swag. An apron, 2 oz. of Polworth Top (our challenge fiber for 2017), knitting patterns, fiber samples, handmade soap, and a hand sewn drawstring bag sewn by the same retreat fairies.

Stuff I bought. More Polworth Top (because 2 oz. is just not enough!), fiber batts from Dreamy Goat Design Studio, knitted sheep bag by Lea, handwoven scarf by Virginia, and some pick up sticks. Some of these items are destined to be gifts.

Stuff I won in the raffle! We have a huge raffle full of amazing items from many many great vendors. 

I got lucky this year. A Zoom Loom with Woven Turtle Kit, a bump of pencil roving from Noro and a lovely orifice hook.

This is one half of our great room. Several concentric circles of spinners flow in and around each other.

This is the other half of the great room.

My gang. (from left to right) Me, my mom, my sister and my best friend. The gourds are all by my mother. The big dog gourd is a custom order created for one of our fiber friends.

Can't go wrong with having family and friends share in our love of arts and crafts. Thanks to everyone at Studio 49 Retreat for another great year!