Hummingbird Socks

   As mentioned in my previous post, I spun the yarn and knit a pair of socks for my grandmother's birthday.

Fiber: Sweet Georgia Superwash BFL on Hummingbird, 4 ounces. I divided the fiber in half lengthwise and spun each half, then chain-plied each single to keep the colors together as much as possible. 

I ended up with about 315 yards total, which was enough for a pair of socks, but I should have been more careful while  spinning. My second skein didn't have quite enough yarn to complete the sock, so I had to rip back the first one. 

Pattern: On Hold Socks by Wendy D. Johnson, from the book Socks From the Toe Up

Yarn: 3 ply BFL handspun in Hummingbird, approximately 315 yards, heavy fingering weight

Needles: US Size 1 circular needles

 I'm happy to report my grandmother loved them!

Spring Stashdown

On Ravelry, the Spunky Eclectic group is having a stashdown, where you spin as much of your stash as you want to between April 1st and May 4th. I was overly optimistic as usual and decided I could spin 45.2 ounces in a month. Here is what I pulled out of the stash to spin:

• 3.2 oz wool silk cotton mohair blend (light teal on the left)
• 6 or 8 oz merino (?) braids in Autumn Oak colorway (top)
• 4 oz Border Leicester in Golden

• 4 + oz white Blue Faced Leicester (currently on the spindle)

• 8 oz black llama and Border Leicester blend (top)
• 8 oz Border Leicester and Romney blend (bottom)

• Border Leicester and Lincoln blend in blue (left)
• 4 oz BFL combed top in Saturn (right in second picture)

To be fair, I started with the natural-colored BFL on a drop spindle, so it went more slowly than I anticipated. I'm just about finished with that though, and everything else will be done on the spinning wheel. Even if I don't get everything spun up, it was good motivation to keep me spinning regularly and it's improved my spindle spinning a lot. It's also a good reminder of what a large fiber stash I have, with New Hampshire Sheep and Wool coming up in a few weeks.

Wool Arts Tour 2010

Well, this post is about a month late, but better late than never! I had a great time at this year's Wool Arts Tour, even though one of my favorite places retired last year and another favorite retired this year. I went to five of the six locations with my mom and grandma, and my aunt and four-year-old cousin met us along the way to go to some of the farms and shops.


Great handmade soaps from The Spinning Bunny (cinnamon spice, gardener's soap, and spicy bergamot)




Beautiful hand-dyed Blue-faced Leicester roving from Painted Knoll Farm



A cute hand-painted pumpkin pin and some gorgeous handspun, hopefully to make a Brattleboro Hat (Rav link) from New England Knits:


A stupidly soft blend of mohair, wool, and something else that I can't remember at the moment (sorry, I've also forgotten the farm name! I will post when I spin it):


Some deliciously squishy Cormo to make the Willoughby scarf from Jared Flood's Made in Brooklyn:


Nightingale Fibers sock yarn, probably for socks (or another shawlette--really, can you have too many of those? I don't think so). Also two skeins of Nightingale Fibers laceweight alpaca blend to make a Prairie Rose Lace shawl (Rav link) from The Knitter's Book of Wool:



I have been wanting to get my hands on a skein of Malabrigo sock for a long, long time. So finally I did (I also feel that I should mention that I fell in love with Malabrigo a long time ago, and when other knitters started talking about its magical properties and the fact that it makes you do crazy things, I was immensely relieved). This is hopefully going to be Ysolda's awesome Orchid Thief shawlette (can never have too many) from Brave New Knits:


Some awesome squishy fiber the color of worn jeans, from Fiber Dreams Farm:


Last but certainly not least: 4 delightfullly squishy balls of roving from Brimstone Hollow Farm:



This color just screamed "autumn" to me, so I had to take it home.



I loved chatting with Brimstone Hollow's owners, too. They were adorable in their matching knitted sweaters made from their own sheeps' wool! The sweaters had intricate Aran-looking patterns, too.

Wow, that's a lot of stuff. One might think I have some sort of fiber addiction. In all honesty, I have been very good about not buying yarn most of the year. I save it for the NH Sheep and Wool Festival and the Wool Arts Tour. Not that I'm trying to justify any of this :)

It was a great time and I'm already looking forward to next year!