Another giveaway!

Posted on June 18, 2011 by UnionSt

Hop on over to Juniper Moon Fiber Farm for a giveaway of hand washed, hand carded, hand spun wool from one of my favorite sheep (one of everyone’s favorite sheep actually!) Alabama!
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I have had a super-busy Spring, and as such my Etsy shop – though you are welcome to visit it – is rather bare! So, rather than one of my hand-dyed skeins, I have a super special give-away this time. Susie presented me with a truly amazing gift at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival in May, Alabama’s very first fleece! For those of you who don’t know, Alabama is the love-child of the May/December romance of dear Miss Daisy and Truman - sly whippersnapper that he was! He is Susie’s very first Cormo/Babydoll Southdown cross and his fleece is delicious! It is super lofty and buttery like a Cormo with a lovely crimp but is not quite as soft and has a great spring to it. I suspect it will knit up rather like a soft shetland with that nice spring, good for showing an open stitch. I washed the fleece, hand-carded some and spun a skein up! It is the first time I have tried to spin a true long draw- hopefully preserving some of the springy goodness of this yarn! I need to work on my tension a bit and would not use this yarn for socks, but for mits? Heck yes!

So, the prize is one skein of undyed hand-loved Alabama, and a copy of the book “Hand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece” by Gail Callahan. This is one of my favorite how-to-dye books because it is chock-full of great information about tons of dye techniques (using things like microwaves, crock-pots, mason jars and parking meters), has a spiral spine so it lies flat, has a nice set of projects in the back, and has LOTS of great pictures! The skein is 6 oz. of Alabama goodness, about 225 yards of two-ply which will probably knit up as a sport to light worsted weight.

How to win – I am gearing up for another set of instructional knitting videos, this next will be on increasing and decreasing. After that, what would you like to see demonstrated? Cables? Two-color knitting? Basic sweater design? Dyeing techniques? Go have a look then let me know on the Fiber Farm blog what else you have been itching to try, and as usual, by magical random number generator Jenny will pick a winner on Monday!

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Pete’s Greens Giveaway Sweater Update:

Posted on February 4, 2011 by UnionSt

Finished the body and have begun the first sleeve…….

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New Rovings!

Posted on February 4, 2011 by UnionSt

Dyed some lovely Cormo roving from Juniper Moon Farm the other day – the moody brownish one was a total surprise.  I just lumped up the soaked roving and randomly  poured on a red, blue and yellow, let it set, steamed it and voila!  The other three rovings are painted.  Can’t wait to spin them, especially the bright one -

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This is the “voo-do” dye job – came out a really nice moody grey/brown but how will it spin?

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Kind of a boring roving, but may spin really nicely…..?

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I have 2 of these!  juicy!

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We have a Winner!

Posted on February 2, 2011 by UnionSt

Char Haas!

“This is just lovely- I think it needs to be a baby set- booties and a hat, probably, for my current client’s baby, due in June.”

Yay!  I shipped your package this morning!

I dyed a bunch of roving yesterday, did not get a chance to photograph it today, but hopefully tomorrow I’ll get some pictures up!

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My First Give-Away!

Posted on January 27, 2011 by UnionSt

You should now be able to comment! Yay!

-L

I have a set of 12 Smart Stitch Markers and a hank of hand-spun Juniper Moon cormo wool – yummy!  The wool is a 4.4 oz skein of about 150 yards of 2 ply yarn.  I just put it’s partner and a second skein of Juniper Moon cormo up in my Etsy Shop!  It will knit up as a worsted or heavy worsted.  The stitch markers are silverplate with glass beads and can hook on your fabric or slide on your needles.  To enter:

1) Leave a comment on this blog about what you could do with 150 yards of handspun, or if you can’t think of anything, no worries, just tell me your favorite colors!

2) THEN comment here in the Friday Giveaway post at Juniper Moon Fiber Farm and let them know the best part of your week!  (while you are over there, check out the cutest puppies in the world – lots of pictures posted on the blog!)  As usual, the winner will be chosen at random.

In these photos, the colors seem too saturated, the overall effect is too bright – the actual skein is nicely muted and slightly silvery-grey.

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CSA in Need

Posted on January 26, 2011 by UnionSt

If you take a vist to the backyard, you probably figured out that I am a big fan of CSA’s.  On January 12 Pete’s Greens, an organic farm in Vermont suffered a massive barn fire.  The farm has an active CSA program including not only fresh organic vegetables, but also free-range beef and pork and pastured chicken.  As most farms are, it was under insured.  Susan Gibbs at Juniper Moon Fiber farm with her wealth of readers, is hosting a massive  fund-raising event to help cover part of the re-building costs.  In basically a huge giveaway, many artisans large and small have donated items ranging from a set of hand-made soaps, to autographed books, hand-spun yarn even a full share in Susie’s farm.  To donate, or to read more about the project head on over to her blog at Juniper Moon Fiber Farm.

I have donated a hand-knit sweater which I SWEAR will be done by the time the prizes are announced!  The top is my hand-spun yarn, a correidale wool, the body is cormo/mohair blend from Juniper Moon Fiber Farm.  The chest measures about 40 inches around, and it is almost sort of done!

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So, How did the Neon Slinky Yarn Come Out?

Posted on January 21, 2011 by UnionSt

Very well thank you!  Ernest (aka. the Nuisance) was a big help with photography tips today!

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Dying: inspiration? the neon slinky!

Posted on May 4, 2010 by UnionSt

My son has been absent-mindedly “slinking” this brightly colored plastic slinky back and forth between his hands for the last couple of weeks.  I decided I really liked the colors of the slinky and needed to dye something, anything!

So what is up with the yarn you ask?  I am planning on attending two local farmer’s markets this summer and fall, the Glenside Farmer’s Market which runs on Saturdays, and the CreekSide Coop Farmer’s Market at High School Park (now that is a mouthful!) which runs on Sundays.  Here is the schedule as planned:

CreekSide at High School Park – May 23, June 20, (skip July and August – too hot!) September 19 and October 31 (Boo!)

Glenside – May 29, June 26, September 25, October 30 and November 20

I found a source for nice organic Incan cotton.  It came the other day and I am excited to dye some up.  I will post pics so you can see what will be at the markets!

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Light up Your Life!

Posted on February 14, 2010 by UnionSt

Got a really great idea from Not Martha (one of my favorite blogs to browse) on making your own sun catchers – made some from a set of solar lights I got on sale at Home Depot.  Couldn’t get to Ikea for the suggested canning jars, so I used pint-sized Ball canning jars that have the larger lid size and here is what I got!

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I Want to Knit This:

Posted on January 19, 2010 by UnionSt

I want to knit this:

I have been eyeing this shape for a couple of years – from the Knitting Fool’s website.  They describe it as

“This illustration as well as the following image are from the book The Mathematical Tourist, Snapshots of Modern Mathematics by Ivars Peterson.  Peterson identifies this shape as Hoffman genus-1 minimal surface by J. T. Hoffman and D. Hoffman, University of Massachusetts. ”

So I Googled it and here it is described as a helicoid with a hole.  Wolfram’s Math World describes it as having “the same topology as a punctured sphere with a handle”.  I just think it is a great shape, and is why I am glad my oldest son is planning on majoring in math!…….

Step one – knit a pair of pants………

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