Etherknitter

Stitches East 2010

Many SOAR'd this weekend. I Stitched. It was my first.

When the extravaganza moved to Connecticut last year, I said no.  Post-Rhinebeck, new yarn was coals to Newcastle.  I kicked myself the whole year.  Some of the Stitches exhibitors don't do the northeast fiber festival circuit.  I went to go see what it was all about.

I climbed back up on my faithful EtherSteed, and trotted off to Hartford.  Stitches East was an distinctly different entity.  I saw no bloggers.  No Ravelry pins decorated any visible chest parts.  The crowd was older.  No spindles peeked out of bags.  The Sanguine Gryphon had no lines AND yarn was abundant in her booth.  (I was there on the third open market day, and Bugga hung waiting.)

Kits were prominently featured.  I found Carol Sunday's (Sunday Knits) booth early, and bought Night Birds.  Her yarns are lush.  The colors are bright and soft at the same time.  

I arrived with no agenda, and wandered the aisles.  Roaming took me to String Theory, Isager, The Mannings, Signature Needles, Black Water Abbey, Debra's Garden, YarnBarn of Kansas.   I met Lisa Souza.

Go meet Lisa (and husband Rod)  if you ever have the chance.  Buy her fiber.  Buy her yarn.  Her colors and fibers are beautiful.  So is she.  We are gifted with being on the planet at the same time she is.  Make sure you take advantage of that coincidence at least once in your fiber-life.

I owe you Rhinebeck basket pictures.  In progress, followed by completed.  The basket bellies out when I had not enough control over the process.  It nips in when I overcompensated with too much control.  Then the cylinder shape straight up to the top finishes the learning curve. 

Glory Days (BFL), Sea Pearl (addiction status), and Isabel (new laceweight) came home with me from Rhinebeck.  I would almost hesitate to show you this yarn pulchritude, but I know nothing will stem the tide of knitters flooding her booth.

Last night was an adults' Halloween party at a friend's house.  I wore my Stetson, and an ancient pearl button workshirt stained with holes from a lab hydrochloric acid spatter.  (It's a wonder we all survived back before OSHA.)

I videoed her guest lav.  It hung there until a sudden noise activated it.  I had been warned, otherwise I would have lost a year off my life.   Happy Halloween!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cummington 2010

The day was perfect.   Morning cool became afternoon sun and breeze.  Fiber friends crowded the booths.  Manise and I prowled, then wandered.

Marcy brought her twin nieces, Lydia and Erica.  They spin. 

Lydia had an African porcupine quill that she made into a spindle.  She had fired a ring of clay in her baking oven to counterweight the quill.  She was spinning cotton. 

Some small part of me, the part that started spinning later in life, wishes I could be 25 years old once more.

I have an FO that has reached its recipient. 

At the TKGA Marketplace in 2007, I purchased stainless steel/silk from Habu.  I watched Takako knitting a fine mesh on #3 needles with her fine hands.  She made it look simple. 

I unvented a version of Kushu-kushu.  Even if I had known the pattern was available, my scarf path would still have been different.  Four inches of steel/silk, then fine merino and metal held together, then finish with four inches of the steel/silk yarn.

The knitting was epic.  Three or four needles were trialed, until finally an Inox coated aluminum version allowed stitches to slide in a controlled manner from needle to needle.  I worked on a row every few weeks.  (Really.)  Finally, this spring, knitting monogamy seemed like a more productive plan.  (I found a picture of the scarf's start in October 2007.  Time to get it DONE.)

Yarn:  Habu stainless steel/silk, grey; Habu extra fine merino, rust
Needles:  Inox coated aluminum dpns, #3
Pattern:  60 stitches, 4 inches of steel on each end, steel and merino held together, total length, approximately 32" per MIL request, st st throughout

The yarn required no patterning for visual interest in the FO.  I did not felt it, and do not intend for felting to occur. 

My MIL sent an email thank you:

"I can't believe this incredibly supple network!  How do you even knit such a material?  It seems to stretch endlessly, can be configured a myriad ways, and has a memory! 

 

I certainly would have never thought of such a sci-fi material- where do you find it?  

I can't imagine tricked-up silkworms producing steel-reinforced fiber.

 

 I have to admit I have been using steel cable covered in nylon for stringing for a long time, but was never able to knot it successfully as it is too stiff.  So to see a steel fiber being knitted boggles the mind.  And a combination of steel and silk!  Who uses it? 

 

I am obviously delighted to be the recipient- I'm thinking  the piece  can be used many ways, even shaped into a flower to wear on the lapel.  I even wonder whether it will keep me warm in winter, but think probably not, the steel might conduct cold! We should put it in the freezer briefly and find out!

 

I really like the  artistic color combination.  Can you send a small piece of the silk/steel material for experimentation?"

I have offered to make a scarf suitable for winter wear.  I'm thinking lace...intricate patterning...but it will be hard to top this one.

    

Triple H

What can a knitter do when it is 90 degrees, 90% humidity?  Fighting it is futile.  It takes megwatts of electricity to cool a spinning room to wool-handling temperature.  That is not green.  Few complaints have been registered in Etherknitterland over the weather.  Winter was great.  (I know that to have snow THERE, one must live with snow HERE.)  The spring and summer rain was free water!  From the sky!  No crazymaking water bills from my town, which sets its charges as if every year is a drought year.

(The Water Commission told us to conserve water.  Scarce resources.  Too many houses, too much demand.  We conserved. 

Then they sent a notice that we conserved so well, they weren't making enough money. They had to raise the water rates.  Made me want to poke my eyes out and die.)

I started Mystique shawl (Tilli Thomas Voile de la Mer, colorway Atmosphere).  Thin yarn, big needles, not fun.  I finished row 6 yesterday, admired my knitting, then cried out in pain.  Mr. E, always helpful, suggested I photographically preserve the debacle prior to the frog pond.  I could not tell if I dropped one stitch or two.  If I had been happy with the work, I would have used it as an exercise to practice fixing lace.  The yarn is now sitting in a quiet, reconstituted ball by the bedside, confused as to its next purpose. 

So I embraced/tolerated/participated in summer over the weekend.

FiberRevival.  Pumpkinmama's t-shirt made the sardonic me smile.  I have clearly not recovered from the two weeks of new resident tutorial, which ended Friday.  Despite sleep, my brain is still fried.  I cut a wide swath of social faux pas across the Revival.  I apologize.  I think it will all be okay, but it is not my usual style to rely on the kindness and forgiveness of friends.

The 'pacas were as adorable as always.  I so want one.  Or two.

August is a farmstand overflowing with locavore harvest.  The annual Tomato and Corn Festival was worth the trip, and the heat.  Nothing beats foot-stomping, rhythm-slapping bluegrass on a day hotter than a greasy spoon's griddle. 

Carole's and Grumperina's vacation plans include planning knitting projects.  What do you knit on planes if you are bored with socks?  What kind of knitting do you stuff in your carryall? How big a project is too big?  Do you use cheap needles in case you lose them in the sand? Is mindless knitting too mindless for a whole week of knitting?

And finally, a Triple H day, stick-your-head-in-the refrigerator lunch:

In this order, in a shallow bowl -

1 generous handful of blueberries, washed     1 container of Fage yogurt, 2%                          maple syrup to taste                                              sprinkle with raw organic pecans and dried currants

The weekend in pictures

New Hampshire Sheep and Wool, version 2009, was a perfect release of software.  Yes, there were bugs, but the gnats disappeared once you left the fields and woods for the safety of the barns.  The current year's distro of sheep/wool/goat/alpaca/bunny products gave the end-user everything we could possibly think of wanting. 

I wandered aimlessly, pushed by Manise in one direction, pulled in others by texture and color.  I saw everyone except Terry.  Gayle helped me with tubular cast-ons.

The camnesia was recognized.  I did little to cure the malady, except take one picture of Kelly.  She declared that nothing that could be posted on the interwebs would bother her.  The picture is meant to show the Bosworth midi, and the Foxfire Fiber she is spinning.  (I saw her at the Foxfire booth, where she muscled ahead to the fiber shelves.  I knew I had nothing to fear.  The blues and greens were safe, and would still be waiting for me.) 

Chris Woolybuns had soft, lush roving and yarn.  I came out with superwash merino sock yarn and Cinnamon Twist roving. 

I bought Ingrid balls (three of each, her Ward Brook Farm Corrie/Romney X roving).  They are so much fun to spin.  I found another ounce of Pygora B roving (Oliver's first year fleece) from Tucker Woods Farm.

Friends Folly Farm seduced with wool/mohair roving, beautifully prepped, in a one pound bag.  It's the same colorway I bought at SPA. 

Barb Parry's book on dyeing, and a bag of BL/mohair followed me home.  That's it.  No fleeces.  No wheels.  No spindles.

A male hummingbird did a fly-by feeding on May 3rd.  Our birds returned on May 6th, continuing last year's battles with fury fueled by fearful concentrations of testosterone.  They were initially confused by the new red leaves of Pieris japonica.  I watched finches doing the deed on the lawn yesterday.

Mrs. Robin got her nest built before I decided what to do about the invasion of birdpoop.  It stays until the tenants vacate.  She sits multiple hours, head turned to where we can stare each other down through the transom window.  The height of her nest makes RobinCam difficult, but not impossible.

 

 

Jumpstart: The spring fiber season arrives

Barb Parry of Foxfire Fibers helped nudge the spring fiber season a week early.  We scooted out to her farm on April 19th for a spin gathering.

Mystic's twin Cormo lambs were still getting used to ex-utero life.  It's a tough world.  You get booted out of all that womb-ly warmth and comfort, only to find that one of Mom's udders is busted, and the other one is slow to produce.  Then you look around, and realize that the sister you were kicking all winter is now competition for scarce milk resources.  Life would be SO unfair, but Barb brings out the bottle every few hours, giving Mystic a chance to catch up with her lambs.

Two sets of triplets are segregated with their moms.  That offers the moms a chance at some extra feed for that third set of gums hooked onto their undersides. 

April 25th followed as you expect in this most perfect of all universes.  Connecticut Sheep and Wool welcomed winter-weary fiberistas.  I think the temps broke some sort of record.  It was an uncomfortable 92 degrees.  This may have been the one festival at which sheep were happy to be part of a shearing demonstration.  

Kelly did drop-spindle tricks, tossing it in front of her with a double handed twist to set plying in motion. 

And was it Manise who said, "How many women does it take to jumpstart a car?" 

This many:

Spindle by Spindlewood

All is well.  The previously pictured people aren't peeved at my past post.  Let's move on.

Fleece!  I'm certain I can distract your attention spans with fleece!

At Cummington this year (MA Sheep&Wool), I decided I didn't need to visit the fleece judging.  My shopping was done;  I was loitering with the usual suspects. 

"Look!  It's 2pm!  The building is open!"  For once, I wasn't the one who made the announcement.

I was herded.  Really.  I commented on this unlikely variation of peer pressure.  She pointed out I could turn around, walk away.

Yeah.

A fleece broke my heart.  Achingly beautiful, it had a tag that said "NFS".  Not for sale.  Bold, brave, insouciant, I reached in the bag for the folded tag that had the necessary information.  I knew the shepherd.

Nothing inflames like something just out of reach.  Even knowing that, I cannot seem to quench the flames of desire.  Discussion, negotiation, email a few days later, and it was half mine.  (Diane of JustOurYarn would be a co-owner.)  We would take possession at Rhinebeck.

Foxfire Farm Cormo/Border Leicester cross:  
I washed one lock.  It bloomed.  Hypnotized, behaving like a fleece zombie, walking through the house with my arms extended in front of me as I spun,  I spindle spun the lock.
The fleece is on its way to a wonderful mill.  I'm hoping for sweater quantity to come back to me.  The fleece Gods smiled on this genetic union.  This fleece has all the crimp, elasticity, and fineness of Cormo, with the staple length and luster of Border Leicester. 

Life is wonderful when it takes so little to bring so much joy.

Rhinebeck 2008

Rhinebeck started differently this year.  I continued spinning immersion with Judith MacKenzie-McCuin in her Friday class at the Fairgrounds.  Marcia, Margene and Terry and I constituted 25% of the class. 

I'm percolating 17 hours spent with Judith in the past two weeks.  That deserves a separate post.  Her class on spinning exotic fibers was sprinkled liberally with Marcia's cookies, Terry's quiet intensity, and Margene's calm and vehement participation.  (How Margene can be both at the same time is one of the amazements of knowing and loving her.)

Left:  Judith spinning a silk blend off her Clemes&Clemes handcard,  Center:  Judith demonstrating a three ply technique,  Right: spinning from a puni.

The crowds were epic.  Sparkling moments with people and roving and yarn stacked up quickly enough to feel like emotional fireworks.  And it lasted ALL day, Saturday and Sunday. 

Sadly blogless Connie (who started spinning April 26th) and Lorrie (who has a blog in name only) confessed to buying six Border Leicester fleeces.  SIX.  That was after the purchase of at least two Shetland fleeces. 

The quality and quantity of exceptional knits parading on the Fairgrounds was a testament to how cold it was.  My head snapped around innumerable times to see beautiful sweaters pass by. 

If anyone recognizes this woman and her beautiful FLAK, leave a shout in the comments. 

The WryPunster had a beautiful Wisteria.  Her FO post shows it off to advantage.  (I am always amused that it is socially acceptable to accost perfect strangers. )

The antique engine display at the Fairgrounds belched smoke and stink and noise.  The engines sounded a cacaphony based on only 2 1/4 cylinders each.  The rhythms of sputtering and firing were random.  Men were glued to the rails of the corral that enclosed belt driven oddities and dinosaurs of the machine age.  Only Stravinsky and Bartok could have written the music that entertained them while their women immersed themselves in fiber.

SOARites greeted each other with hugs, and the secret handshake.  (Yes on the hugs, but no, there was no secret handshake.  I lie.)  Bonds are made tighter before winter because we gathered again so soon after the last time.  At SOAR, Lynn and Cheryl and I were Marcy's SOAR virgins, like comet dust trailing in her wake.  At Rhinebeck, we traced our own paths through the fiberverse.

Margene dragged me bodily out of the Brooks Farm booth.  I was attracted by blues that made me weep in joy.  I would buy no yarn without a project in mind (Knitigator's Rules).  She had to pull me by my sleeve, another time by my collar, a third time by my arm.  I was allowed one purchase, and the color is Etherknitter.

I fell hard for a sweater at Foxfire Farms' booth.  The winter edition of Twist Collective will have a simple and exquisite sweater designed by Nathania Apple.  It's been bumped into the immediate queue for its simplicity, and the yarn (merino/alpaca/silk).  The stockinette means airplane and post-work mindless knitting ease.  My knitter's Pavlovian responses kick into high gear.

The Poop Scoop was the final chapter of the Black and Tan story.  I won't soon forget the musical collapse of beer bottles every time Carole's mini-refrigerator door was opened.  It was a miracle that floor wasn't shampooed with alcoholic suds each evening.

And so continues our Rhinebeck, year after year.  We are such fortunate fiberistas.

So, the spoils of victory are next:

-baby camel/tussah silk top (Spirit Trails)  Judith had us spin some of this.  I was smitten.                         -Sea Pearl (merino 50%/tencel 50% from Briar Rose)                                                                                                   -American cashmere, plum over taupe (Springtide Farm)                                                                                          -Spinner's Hill top, signature wool cross                                                        -my first Golding spindle, 0.6 oz.  I'm loving the laceweight honeys.

-Tongue River Farm, laceweight and sock yarn, a purchase made in tribute to an exceptional shepherd who has passed from among us;

-and last, an uncharacteristically soft Jacob bump, dyed with indigo from Handspun by Stefania.

Typepad will inevitably scramble all this.  The exercise of what description matches which picture is left to the student.                                             

Fiber Revival 2008

The last two weeks have passed like a torrent of time.  I have been working 1:1 with a new resident.  That ended last Friday.  Then came Fiber Revival.  It was perfectly timed for the rejuvenation of a tired gas passer.  Take a spectacular summer's day.  Stir in a spinning class.  Fold in knitters and spinners from the Northeast.  Mix with a goodly supply of cooperative and seductive vendors.  Add the salt and pepper of alpacas, to taste. 

Chris has documented our Color Blending class in her post.  My five color choices are shown below.  The left side was thoroughly carded, then spun.  The right side grouping was carded side-by-side on the drum, then spun. 
Kim, and the rest of us, fell in love with J's Drudik wheel.  The mother-of-all rotates freely around the wheel.  It can be used as castle style, left or right hand orifice.  Amazing.  J let us spin on it.  It was more than good.

The day ended with a rapidly moving thunderstorm, lightning illuminating our predicament.  We fled, like the satyrs, nymphs, and centaurs in Fantasia,  as the gods hurled flaming bolts at our gathering.

I have several FOs, and a new Canon Rebel.  It's a tough learning curve right now.  More to come when I actually sit down to understand what I'm doing.

Mr. Etherknitter sent me a link.  It's a real study, published in a highly regarded medical journal.

I knew dark chocolate was good.  Now we have data that shows it is good for our heart.

TKGA 2008

Life tried very hard to get in the way.  Luck and pluck allowed me to finally drive away to Manchester, New Hampshire for the TKGA conference. 

I signed up for two of Nancie Wiseman's classes.  I told Mr. E that I was taking a Fine Finishing class with the woman who wrote the book.  Her small text on finishing techniques is one of the most used items in my knitting library.  I also signed up for Continental Knitting with her.  Last year gave me the knit stitch.  Russian poorl was too gymnastic for this knitter, so I thought to try one more time.

Since I currently hate my cameras, camnesia is a convenient excuse for lack of photographic evidence.  The usual suspects were present.
Cheryl, Knitigator and sadly blogless Manise lined up in back with me.  There is no photographic evidence of sadly blogless Connie, who sat to my left. 

We learned seaming row to row, stitch to stitch, row to stitch, tubular cast-on, and short rows.  Some of it was review, and some of it created fireworks in my brain.  Ms. Wiseman had a dry sense of humor that punctuated her knitting points.  Her teaching was clear and well-paced.  She walked around, checking with everyone to make sure we understood what was happening with the knitting.

Ms. Wiseman shows Manise some finer point of finishing, with Kelly Rota in the background.

We allowed our brains to roam more freely, stretching them out after the hard exercise of class, by going to the Marketplace.  The retail opportunities were much more subdued this year.  Many vendors were absent.  The floor space was approximately 60% of last year's Market.  No worries.  Tess' Yarns was there, Habu was there.  I discovered Dreamweaver Yarns, and The Yarn and Fiber Company.  The yarn diet ended, as intended, for this event.

Mostly, I bought stuff I had seen on the Web, and had coveted.  In New Hampshire, all purchases are tax-free.  Dreamweaver Yarns had Tilli Thomas Voile de la Mer (silk 70%/seasilk 30%).  I purchased two skeins in 'Atmosphere'.  The shawl pattern 'Mystique' was included with the purchase.  The link shows the yarn colorway as well as the pattern.

Habu is a dangerous place to visit.  Takako sits knitting quietly.  She is making tiny needles and impossibly gossamer yarn look like an easy, mindless knit.  (Don't be fooled.)  Most of us bought some kit or another.  I had seen Kit #89 blogged recently.  She had a sample there for trying on.  The store will wind the linen paper yarn on cones and send the kit to me.  I also came home with two skeins of Habu tassar silk.

There are recent FOs to show.  The weather is cooler,  and now lends itself to posing.  Soon.

Cummington 2008

Cummington.  It is where I learned to spin.  It was my first fiber festival, and so the neural pathways governing fiberlust are deep and strong in me when I am there.  I was part of the feral roaming packs stuffing fiber in their sacks for the winter famines.

Cassie has done the linkage.  Some arrived, who were scarce and rare. 

The small hillside in front of the stalls is our headquarters.  No one else seems to think it is good space, so we take it over each year.  After having wrung out our wallets, it is a dangerous spot.  One leap upwards, and you can be at Amy Boogie's booth.  One roll downhill, and you will run into Barb Parry's feet.

I was camnestic until the end, and that's all you get.

Jess was trying to buy fiber from The Wool Peddler.  The wind was having its way with her.   Judy was warming in the sun. Cheryl was recovering from fibering.  Mamacate, Cassie, and Knitigator were inspecting purchases, and spindle-spinning.

Restraint in purchasing has not robbed me of the need for a serious fiber diet.  That glorious Ken Ledbetter spindle was from Judy's booth.  Wool Peddler roving (BFL, Berry Bark colorway) was whipped around my head in triumph at every opportunity.  It had to compensate for the Spinner's Hill roving (blue/green).  Twelve ounces of blue/green is a big presence, and everyone just nodded their heads knowingly at my color choice.  That's why I had to show my 8 ounces of new passion to them.  (Is there a spam filter for blogs?  That last sentence would NOT pass.)  That's 8 ounces of BFL in the colors of berry and bark.

I am so behind in posting.  I've had computer glitches for two weeks.  Every time I tried to download a picture to the blog, Firefox crashed.  I now have a new 'puter.  It's not REALLY new, says the nongeek.  It is a cheap reconfigured IBM something-or-other that Mr. Etherknitter picked up at the local computer geek place.  At least I can post now.

FO, garden, I, J, K,  coming so fast you won't even recognize this as my blog.