What I'm Up To...

I finished knitting this purple shawl some time ago, but just got around to washing and blocking it.  I love the colour, although it isn't one that I would normally wear.  I've knit this simple pattern before, and it really shows off the variation in the handspun, handdyed yarn. 

I love it when people admire a handspun garment and ask me if I made it myself.  "Yes, first I tended my alpacas for a year while they grew the fleece, then I gathered the fleece as my husband sheared it, then I washed and carded the fleece, spun the yarn on my spinning wheel, then dyed the yarn, then knit the garment....yes, I did make it."  (I try not to take all the credit if the particular alpaca is nearby)

Here's my current knitting with handspun project - a very plain rectangular wrap.  I find that garments knit with very simple stitch patterns look like pieces of art, as the handspun, handdyed yarn is interesting all on it's own.



Creating handspun, handdyed garments is definitely a labour of love.

It takes me a while to turn fleece from the alpaca's back into a clean roving that I can dye, and then spin, and then knit.  I showed you the yarn for these two shawls here back in December after it was just dyed.

I picked up a book on the 'New' shelf at the library, "Culinary Intelligence" by Peter Kaminsky.  The author is a well-known food writer/restaurant reviewer.  This isn't a book I would normally pick for a bedtime read, but I am becoming more and more interested in healthy eating in a way that supports sustainable and responsible agriculture.





I'm about half way through the book.  I find it really interesting and Mr. Kaminsky has explained in terms that I can understand, ways to select food that leads to better health for yourself and your planet.  He wraps it all around a term called 'FPC' (flavour per calorie).  In short, if you make the decision to only select the best tasting food - generally, you are going to select food that has been picked when ripe (ie. regional), had less salt and chemicals added to it (less processed) and therefore with less packaging and environmental impact.  He also explains how natural food flavours are meant to be enhanced by salt, sugar, etc...not totally overwhelmed by food processing industry, as is often the case when we buy packaged or fast food.

I like books that make me smarter. 

Art Yarn

I've recently been intrigued by the creation of "Art Yarn".  I found an Art Yarn group on Ravelry and was drawn to the pictures.  The process looks incredibly creative compared to my attempts at traditional balanced yarn.  I'm thinking of spending some time trying this soon.  To this end, I ordered the book,
Intertwined: The Art of Handspun Yarn, Modern Patterns, and Creative Spinning by Lexi Boeger.

In it, I found a most eloquent passage on handspun yarn that just made my heart swell.

"Handspun yarns are made by concious beings, not unconcious machines.  This imbues them with an internal energy, giving them character and uniqueness.  Each yarn is a reflection of the individual spinner who made it.  It is this quality that makes handspun yarn so amazing to work with.  As you work through a skein, you can see, inch by inch, the decisions that the spinner made.  It passes before you just like a story."

This probably translates to any handcrafted product, doesn't it....

Scattered Thoughts for a Thursday

One of the great things you'll read about alpacas is that they poop in one area for easy cleanup and they rarely poop in the barn.  This may hold true if you have a very small herd...for about a week.  But the minute it's raining outside or the wind is blowing, one alpaca will figure out that it's more comfortable to stay in the barn, then to go outside and lift her fluffy tail to expose her bare parts to the weather.  Once one starts the pile in the barn, it's a regular poop-festival.  Pretty soon, you are spending your winter mornings with an ice-scraper to clean off the barn floor.  It's important to find the one who starts it all and have a little chat.

This is Alicia, the informant...she'd tell me anything for a bit of extra pellets.

I had some birthday money to burn.  I bought some fibre art books to inspire me.  Yummy!

This book, I ordered through the inter-library loan system.  Did you know that in Ontario you can get almost any book you want through your public library?  This is a fantastic book.  I only get to borrow it for 3 weeks though.  It looks like a keeper, so I may end up buying a copy the next time I have a little gift money.

I am not too sure about this eBook Reader thing,yet....though I'm sure it will grow on me.

It is neat technology, and in Ontario, the public libraries provide the ability to download eBooks.  One problem...if this catches on, what am I going to do with all those exquisite handwoven bookmarks that my fellow weavers have given me over the years?

Rainy Days

Oh, my yummy shelves! I've been having fun on my dyeing days this summer. These alpaca blend skeins were yet to be labeled as I got ready for the Artist's Garden event last weekend.

The Artist's Garden brings together about 25 artists and artisans from our community onto the gardens of Ash Creek Pottery in Callander, Ontario. For two days, the public comes to see the artists in action. I was there demonstrating hand spinning, not dyeing. The ladies of St. Andrew's Church serve lunch and desserts in a great tea room. Mid-day, a bagpiper plays from across the pond. The resident ducks walk amongst the gardens and glide into the pond. People play a game of trying to count how many frogs reside in the beautiful water garden beside the pottery studio. On a lovely day, you cannot find a more peaceful venue.
Saturday was a perfect day, even with a short 15 minute rain in the morning. I saw many old friends and met many new faces. The artisans are a great, friendly bunch and we have fun while we are there.
Sunday was not a perfect day. The skies turned black, the phone rang with warning from North Bay of high winds and hail. With black, ominous clouds approaching and the winds picking up, we scrambled to cover the tables the best we could. Not even my anti-rain dance in my long skirt and plaid rubber boots could save it. The skies opened up and it rained, and rained, and rained.
I felt quite sick watching from the studio's covered porch and realizing that I had several thousand dollars worth of yarn, hand knit and hand woven articles under the plastic. My poor tent didn't stand up too well. Somebody's market tent completely collapsed.
My fellow artisans thankfully rushed over to help me secure my product as best we could under plastic.
It rained for a very long time.
The best time was had by six year old Sage, who, barefoot and covered with a blue garbage bag ran through the rain and puddles, declaring that 'This is the Best Day Ever"!
When it finally cleared, the hostess found a dry table and tent and people helped me move some of my product to a drier spot.
Like many others, I was soaked to the bone with drip dry hair.
Worse was that when I got home tired, I had to unpack everything to ensure it wasn't wet.
I was happy that I only lost one photo card and some labels.
Sunday night, I was feeling that I might have participated in my last outdoor venue. I was tired and cranky.
But Monday, the emails started flying talking about how next year's event could be even better.
I love this event and the spirit of the people involved in it.
I'm in! (well, assuming I'm invited...)
I just might have to think about a more weather-proof display system.

Here's some fibre blending that I'm working on. White alpaca and a teal blue merino...makes a batt that looks like a waterfall. I'm thinking of adding either some sparkly angelina or some more colourful silk to it....we'll see where it goes.

It hasn't all been work. Lawrence Hill's Book of Negroes has been out on a steady reserved rotation from the library, especially as it has enjoyed such wonderful reviews. I finally got a hold of it when I had time to read it. It's so hard to put this book down. I thoroughly enjoyed Hill's writing style, the story and the character, Aminata Diallo.



You may have been wondering about Lily. She's still doing fine, although she is smaller than she should be. Lily absolutely refuses the bottle, so we are weighing her often to ensure that she is still gaining. So far, so good. She is gaining, ever so slowly. Lily already has a fan base of her own rooting for her continued health.

Thanks for dropping in. I am always pleased to find comments, so please leave one if you feel inclined!

Fun, Food and Family

Hopefully, that's what everyone's past few days have been about.

You know you're a mom when....


I received these from my darling 13 year old daughter. They make me giggle when I wear them.

I also received a Wii Sports Resort game! I love it! I never really enjoyed the Mario Kart game that we had...I'm a bit spastic for to many visuals going on at a high speed. But these games, I like. I am like 'totally awesome' at wakeboarding. There's something kind of sick with my family that we enjoy watching our little Wii guys plow headfirst into a bouy marker.


I've tried the dog-frisbee, archery and the plane games so far. Great family fun.

Okay - so I had to get something alpaca and yarn-ish in here.

These are the wonderfully soft socks that I made for Gary this Christmas. This is great yarn - it soft of felts itself with wear. The socks I have like this are totally solid on the sole. Totally toasty, too.

I've got a bad cough that's lasted 9 days now and is disturbing everyone's sleep. I hope it clears up soon. The good thing about it is, that I'm trying to give myself some R&R and not stress about things to be done.

The library where I work part-time is closed and with the fall yarn and gift sales season over, I should be able to cut myself some slack.
I'm reading Wally Lamb's "I Know This Much is True". The book is quite heavy - in both size and content. I'm glad I have this free time to get through it. He's a great author.

I rearranged my store today and brought my electric carder into the store. The rest of the house has too much static at this time of the year to card fibre successfully. I've started my year-end inventory today and am trying to resist getting my 'LIST' started. You know...the list that says what I need to do...like paint Amy's bedroom, get two scarf warps started, get some yarn dyeing done, get ahead on my carding, etc. Arggghhh....

I found a nice scarf pattern yesterday that I think suits the 160g of handspun that I was trying to find a use for. This yarn started out as a large batch of handspun, but I have sold the rest of this lovely stuff made into wraps. It's a special yarn that was made from a blend of my crias that were born in our first year of raising alpacas. I will keep this scarf for myself.