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!

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

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

I have 2 of these!  juicy!

“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!

-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.

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!

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!

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………