100 Mile Fiber Fest

Musky feet

2008-12-22T08:11:00.001-08:00

Living up here in the arctic has meant a slight adjustment to my 100 mile fiber loving plans. Though I have a good stash of fleece that I bought while living down south, there isn't a single sheep to be found within a 100 miles. However there are these:

Guess it's kinda hard to tell but those are muskox. There are herds all over the arctic. They provide the most queenly of fleeces. A downy, warm, soft light as air fleece coveted by fibre folk. They also summon a queenly price. Fortunately, I managed to barter with an arctic elf and go my hands on this:

That is qiviut or muskox fleece taken straight off the animal. It's divine. I've been wanting to make DH a pair of qiviut socks for a while and now that I good amount of fleece, I dove right into it.
There is qiviut yarn on the market for $70-$90 and ounce. Almost all of it is laceweight or fingering weight. Great for shawls and toques. Not so great for socks since the fibre is delicate and breaks easily. Qiviut can be carded or plied with other fibres like silk or wool to make it stronger.
I decided to spin it straight from the fleece, uncarded. I spun it with a bit more twist than what I normally would just to give it bit more strength. I spun it with a long draw. I then navajo-plied it for a nice thick yarn.
The downy fibre was a dream to spin. I could feel the warmth of the fibre as I worked with it. The yarn that I ended up with looked overpsun and 'hard' but once I started knitting it up, the qiviut's trademark 'halo' effect appeared and the result was a beautiful fuzzy, soft fabric.
Here's the socks that came about. Beside them is a print of a musk ox from a local artist that DH bought for me.

They are a soft and delicious on the feet as one would imagine. DH is loving them I'm going to experiment with dyeing some next and maybe make myself up a pair of slippers.

Cheers!

I haven't just been chasing muskrats...

2008-12-19T13:28:00.000-08:00

I've been a busy spinner and knitter these past few months. Since my much beloved Ashford Traditional is in storage down south, I had to purchase a new-to-me wheel. Luckily I found a nice slightly used Louet s10 on eBay.

However, with the move up here to Inuvik and the high cost of living in the arctic, I made a deal with myself to make back the costs of the wheel and perhaps some extra $$ by selling hand-dyed handspun yarn. So by mid-October with the town's X'mas Craft Fair looming on the horizon I dyed up huge batch of merino rovings and began spinning and spinning and spinning.A skein or two a night and slowly my yarn stash grew until I ended up with this:

The craft fair was a few weeks ago and I pretty much sold everything! I even now have folks calling me up for yarn as last minute X'mas gifts. The craft fair was a blast and I made back my costs of a new wheel, raw fibre, fund a small dyeing workshop for locals and have a little left over to throw a nice Christmas shindig.
It was nice to meet all the other knitters and crocheters in town. There's a horrendous lack of yarn in this town and it's nice to be able to offer something that other crafters would like. I also got a list of folks that are interested in learning how to knit, dye or spin. Sounds like my dance card is already filling up!
Though the fibre wasn't 100 mile friendly, I did order from Black Lamb which sells merino roving mill ends. So at least I was able to support a Canadian business that sells rovings that would have otherwise ended up in the landfill. I also used a bunch of fleece that I stuffed into corners of our car when we drove up.

I also have been doing a bit of knitting these last few months. Over the Labour Day weekend, I knitted up my Caribou Jacket while on a camping/hiking trip along the Dempster. It was pretty much made it a no-brainer knit as I scope out the landscape for critters sort of project.

The yarn was made from a hodgepodge of Ashford merino rovings and my own hand-dyed merino and silk that I spun into worsted weight single ply. I was going for something rustic and would echo the gorgeous array of colours of the land during this short but spectacular season.

The buttons were made from local caribou antler that I carved. They add a nice bit of arctic whimsy. I've been really getting into carving antler and DH has bought us a Dremel kit so I can release my inner-carver.
The construction is a variation fo EZs Bog Jacket. You all know how much I love that Bog Jacket. I made the front a bit short and then picked up the side stitches for the inside front edge and knitted up the purple panel. I tossed in a couple of short rows around the neck for a fuller collar.
Easy Peasy!
Though I mostly aimed to sell yarn at the Craft Fair I did knit up a couple items.

Lace Scarf. I love this colourway. It's Jacquard Dyes Turquoise and Chartreuse.

Mitts! Can't have enough mitts up here. I think next year I'll do up a couple pairs of thrummed mitts. I think they'll do well up here.

Fair Isle Neckwarmers! My neckwarmer has literally saved my neck and cheek and lips and nose while walking around this arctic wonderland. Fair Isle neckwarmers are a great way for the beginner to learn stranding on. There's no shaping and it works up quick. The thicker material also helps the neckwarmer stay up.
With the craft fair done and pretty much all my Christmas knitting complete, I've been scheming my next project. The local quilters guild has fearlessly asked me to join them in an exhibit titled "Colours of the Delta". As breathtaking the colours were during the turning of the colours of the foilage, I am smitten with winter colour and textures:

I'm drawing up a couple of designs for a winterscape. Yes we are now in our 'dark' months with only a few hours of thin light. Then sun doesn't rise about the horizon and won't pop back up until the new year. However there are still some spectacular moments in the winter's silver light.

I got lost in the blizzard

2008-12-18T08:42:00.000-08:00

I know. Bad blogger.

Excuse me while I flagellate myself with a skein of acrylic, mohair fuzzed eyelash yarn. Better yet, I'll knit up a skein and then spend the weekend unravelling it.

I've hit a couple of technical obstacles. Mainly, we didn't have an actual home until this November. We've been squatting/house sitting/couch surfing since we arrived in the Arctic in April.

Now that we have moved into our own place we don't have internet access in our new abode. We had to make the difficult decision of cable or internet. We could have had both but then we would have to live off of willow bark and fight the ravens for road kill.

Secondly, I've spent much of my time out here this past fall.

Playing paparazi to these guys.

I also officially became a Canadian and learned how to canoe.

And over the summer, I helped DH build a Inuvialuit traditional qayaq! An largely 100 mile qayaq. He made it from a silver spruce pulled up from the East Channel of the Mackenzie River. The ribs are made from willow that town workers were clearing away. We were gifted local sinew. There's not a single nail in this craft. It's held together with dowels and sinew lashings and a few prayers. The whole kit and kaboodle was put together during the Great Northern Arts Festival this past summer. It was a blast!

But now the dark months have descended onto us. I've been spinning like a fiend and scheming like one too. I'll post up pics of my wooly endevours soon.

Now I have to hop over to Ravelry and read through the 80 some odd messages that have popped up while I've been gone.

I left my fleecy heart in Bozeman

2008-05-06T11:06:00.000-07:00

Bad blogger!!! Bad, procrastinating, lazy blogger!!!! I should be flogged with a skein of acrylic, barbed wire laced eyelash yarn!!!
I've been on a road trip for these past few months through BC, Alberta Montana and Wyoming. Though the main focus of these trips has been ice-climbing and mountaineering, I did manage to do some 100 mile fibre reconnaissance work while hanging out in Bozeman, Montana.
Bozeman is an amazing town filled with culture, outdoor recreation, great food and lots and lots of bookstores. It also boast a really cool yarn shop that showcases local fibres.
The store is off the main street at 25 N. Willson Ave.

It is the sort of yarn store that makes a 100 mile fibre nut like me swoon.
A whole end of their store is filled with nothing but local fibres and yarns. Sigh

In this corner, I found shelves filled with local organic fleece of various breeds from Border Leicester to Corriedale.

There was even 13 mile organic yarn from a local producer.

And a whole cabinet of Montana yarn darlings, Mountain Colors.
Swoon....

If I didn't have space restriction, I whole have gone bonkers in there. Due to the already overcrowded conditions in our mountain mobile, I only picked up a few balls of undyed organic wool and some Mountain Colors hand dyed fleece.
I was this close to buying a wheel so I would be able to spin during the rest of the road trip.
Now I'm in Inuvik, Northwest Territories.
Don't ask. Long story.
I'm busy knitting up my Tolkien yarn and am trying to infiltrate the qiviut cartel.
I will try to be a better blogger and fill you in my Arctic Circle 100 mile fibre experience!
Until then, hope you're all having a great spring.

The first age of my Tolkien yarn

2008-01-14T12:02:00.001-08:00

Here's my first handspun from my Tolkien project.
The white is a 2 ply with one ply alpaca and one play romney. The blue/grey is different shades of dyed and undyed grey Cotswold.

Here's another shot of the alpaca/Romney. I wanted something like a twilight moonshine for this yarn.

The yarn all started like this:

Just as reminder, here's Tolkien's description of the elvish cloaks that were gifted to the fellowhip in Lord of the Rings that serves as one of my inspirations for this yarn project:
"...of the light but warm silken stuff that Galadhrim wove. It was hard to say of what colour they were: grey with the hue of twilight under the trees they seemed to be; and yet if they moved, or set in another light, they were green as shadowed leaves, or brown as fallow fields by night, dusk silver as water under the stars....Leaf and branch, water and stone: they have the hue and beauty of all these things under twilight of Lorien that we love; for we put the thought of all that we love into all that we make...they are light to wear, and warm enough or cool enough at need."

-p481, Lord of the Rings, Farwell to Lórien

So to achieve a 'Twilight' colourway, I threw three shades of grey Cotswold, some of the white Romney and a bit of the black Icelandic into a pot with some Gunmetal (jacquard dye) at half strength. I then topped it with half strength of Purple (jacquard dye) and brought it all up to a simmer. Towards the end, I dumped in another handful of light Cotwold to take on just a touch of colour. In total, about I ended up dyeing up about 1 1/2 lbs of fleece.
Here's what came out:

I took some of the lighter gunmetal and some undyed grey Cotswold and spun this:

I'm madly in love with how the gunmetal and purple danced and mingled together. It looks like nebula in all that fluffed up fleece.

Here are some of the lighter Cotswold that I dumped in at the end.

Batts ready for more blending and spinning.

That's it for now. I've got a lot more carding, blending and spinning to do!

The Mysterious Wisdom of Yarn

2008-01-06T13:55:00.001-08:00

I just finished this baby last night while cuddling with DH and watching "300".

It's made with local fleece and leftover yarn from my stash, including this handspun:

Here's a couple more shots:

It was an unplanned project. In fact I wasn't even aware I was making a Healing Shawl until these last few days. This yarn just kept beckoning me and so over the holidays I began working a round shawl. At first I had planned to make a round shawl cardigan but the universe knew better and thwarted me at every turn. Eventually it dawned on me that these colours aren't really my colours and when I thought I had finished it, it didn't agree with me so I continued knitting more. Then a few nights ago, it revealed itself to me. It's meant to be a Healing Shawl for my cousin who's in dire need of some of the universe's healing powers. Once it was apparent to me what it was, it was obvious. Duh! It's a good thing my yarn is smarter than me :P

*****
I've now decided on the wools for my Tolkien Projects:

The grey/silver fleeces are from 3 different Cotswold sheep including the locks off of this little streaker:

I opted for Cotswold as my main wool because it has quite a bit of lustre in it and is hard wearing. For much of history, it's been used for outerwear and upholstery making it a sturdy candidate for my cape. I chose three different values of grey to provide depth in the colour. All these fleeces were from Margaret Thomson at Windrush Farm on Saltspring Island

The black fleece is Fjola, an Icelandic sheep, also from Margaret's farm. Margaret and all her lovely sheep can be reached at Windrush Farm on 1432 North Beach Road in Saltspring Island, 250-537-4669.
Another great place on Saltspring Island for fleece is at the Bullock Lake Farm.

Icelandic fleece is warm and soft and her graceful and fine nature will help balance out the harder wearing Cotswold.

The puffy white stuff in the centre is Romney fleece from Elaine Duncan in Errington. Romney is the finest of all the longwool breeds. It will not only lend a bit of loft and lightness but also lustre to the yarn. Elaine and her sheep can be found at the Weaver's Rose Cottage in Errington, BC, 250-248-1270. During the summer she sell at the Errington Farmer's Market, one of the coolest farmer's markets on the island.

The creamy white roving on the bottom right hand corner is alpaca from my guild sister, Kathy McDonald in Cedar. It's from her Fiber Boys:

Aren't they they cutest things?
Alpaca is super warm, soft and silky. It will lend a touch of luxury to my Tolkien Yarn.
Alpacas can be found all over this island and at farmer's markets.

So now that I have my fleeces picked I guess I should figure out the design for my Tolkien capelet.

Cheers!

Gallery of Favorites

2008-01-03T17:21:00.001-08:00

My wonderful MIL has requested a gallery of my knitting. So here are some of favorites from these last couple of years:
Healing Shawl:

Jewel & Wine Socks

Carved Jade Socks

DH's foot cozies.

Photo of the "Gaston" mountaineering socks for DH. The next in the knitting queue.

My handspun local yarn for the Gaston Socks.

Arachne capelet made with local alpaca.

Broken Brocade Sweater

Midsummer Night's Dream sweater

The back

The sleeve cuff

Patricia's hooded scarf

T's fingerless mitts

A shawl from my Flight of Fuschia Series

Blossom Cape

Fiddlehead Jacket

The Kimonoette

The Honeymoon Sweater.

The back.

Fire & Ice Sweater made with my own local hand-dyed, handspun yarn

The back

MIL Cabled Sweater

Pat's Capelet made with my own handspun local alpaca

The back detail.

For more information, just check out the "Labels" on the left panel. Some of the pieces are also on my other blog, Crave.
I also have most of these in my Ravelry Projects page. My Ravelry name is AlphaMango.
I hope you enjoy the gallery.

The Season for Giving

2007-12-12T10:20:00.000-08:00

Last week we had out Christmas potluck for the Mid-Island's Weavers and Spinners Guild. My friend, Karin, and I also ran a charity clothing drive for hand knit and gently used clothing that we cold donate to the Sally Ann.
We were overwelmed with the response. Members were bringing bags of warm clothing and some wonderful handknits to donate. We ended up with 2 table filled with cozies for donation.

Thank you too my sister member of the Mid-Island Weavers and Spinners Guild. For all those that are interested, we are alway looking for new members. Our next meeting is January 2nd, 2008. Meetings are held at St. Paul's Anglican Church (100 Chapel Street) and begins at 7:30pm.

Everyone but Pat is allowed to continue reading. Pat, go away, go calculate something!!!!!!
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Is she gone yet? OK. I've finally finished my sisters Pat's Capelet. Here's some pics.
Da Front:

Da Back:

Me modeling da capelet:

This is my second from Fleece to Knit 100 Mile Fiber Diet project. It's an asymmetrical capelet that I designed for my kid sister, Pat. I got the alpaca from a local farm (literally just down the road from me). I used both black and white fleece. I dyed some of the white into a light and dark grey. I wanted some depth to the finished yarn colour and not a flat color. I blended the dyed and natural rovings twice through with hand carders so it would be mixed but not homogeneous colour.

She wanted something modern but classic (I don't know where she gets such strange ideas about fashion :P). Because of the dark colour of the yarn and my sister's general preference for simple lines, I opted for an overall stitch pattern that provided clean lines with a bit of texture. The back panel is the same pattern for a scarf that I made her.

The stitch pattern for the body of the capelet is "Overlapping Waves" from the Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns from Sterling. The back panel is "Column of Leaves" from the same book.

I aimed to make a structured capelet, as opposed to flat, drapey piece like a poncho or shawl. She wanted something she could wear in her perpetually AC-blasting office. By literally sculpting in shoulders with short rows, she could just throw this on just to keep the chill off and it would stay on without needed to be pinned closed. It also won't slide all around.

Also, because like me, my sister is short (though way cuter than me), most shawls and capes make us look stumpy, I made sure that the overall length of the capelet wouldn't swallow her. By making it asymmetrical and having a bit of length in the front, it elongates the central body line. However, because the sides are shorter, and the bottom hem is a diagonal upward, it accentuates the torso and doesn't chop her body up into pieces.

I also made her a hooded scarf with some Aran wool I found in my stash:

The scarf pattern is "Column of Leaves" from Sterling's Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns. It's the same pattern that I used for her capelet back panel and one that she really loves. The hood was formed by picking up stitched along the edge of the scarf. Just wrap the scarf around your head and that's how much of the scarf edge you pick up. Knit up a few inches then start forming the hood with short rows. Decrease 2 stitches per row until you reach the centre. Wrap the stitches if you want, don't bother if you don't want to. Then start increasing, 2 stitches per row until you've pick up all the stitches again. Knit up a couple more inches just to provide an ample brim.
The brim edge is from The Harmony Guide to Aran and Fair Isle Knitting. It's pattern 4.7 and 4.8 which are mirrored versions of it. I used one for one half the brim (from scarf edge to centre) and the other one for the half. It makes for a symmetrical edging for the brim that probably only I will notice. The pattern naturally folds and so it provides a nice textured rolled rim which makes for a nicer finish for an edge.
I hope she loves them as much as I loved making them for her :)
Have a great season of giving!

Jen

Carving Her Own Paddle

2007-12-03T11:53:00.000-08:00

My back has been ever so slowly healing from injury & re-injury to my back & pelvis over the last 2 years. I'm not the most patient monkey and the sitting around the sidelines as everyone else got to play really got to my spirit. Finally, my body is strong enough to return to my traditional qayak training, along with my mountain play. Though, not completely healed, I'm optimistic and looking forward to returning to being able to train as intensely as I did before the injury. I'm now clumsily working away at my qayak rolls and other techniques, however, I'm thrilled that I'm not having to face a week of screeching back and screaming abductors as result of a day on the water.
I've been whittling away a stick to make myself a Inuit qayak storm paddle so I can fully advantage of the winter storm paddling conditions and not be stuck treadmilling on the waters of Piper's Lagoon. A "Me" sized storm paddle will also make it easier on my body to paddle in the bluster and waves as my body finishes healing and to maintains it's healthier state.
My wonderful DH went and bought us his and her's cedar 2x4s to make new paddles with. He paid a stiff $$ for local cedar clear of knots but he insisted, being the cool, romantic water jedi that he is. This will be my second paddle but my first cedar storm paddle. Not only to I get to use local fibre to make my paddle but I also get to make it sans power tools.
Here's my stick. It happens to be the perfect length for a storm paddle for me. Basically it fits nicely in my hands with my arms stretched out to either side.

With a string, pins, pencil and ruler, I map out the shape of my paddle.

Here's the paddle all mapped out. Quite frankly, this whole drawing lines part is the hardest for me. Somehow I always manage to mess it up. This time, all my lines crossed as they should with each other but they crossed about 4 inches short of where they should have crossed, which is supposed to be the middle the paddle. Thank goodness of pencil and bulk packages of erasers and for husbands who will gladly run down out to procure such supplies as I have a meltdown over my wonky, unexplained mess of paddle layout. Double thank goodness for husbands who don't make fun of you for said meltdown or paddle layout mess.

That's me armed with a hand saw cutting kerfs to shape the loom. You see those $50 Canadian Tire boots on my feet. Those are the boots that took me up Liberty Bell in the North Cascades and numerous climbs in Squamish, including the apron on the Stawamus Chief and a couple of seasons of ice climbing & mountaineering. I love those boots just for those awesome memories and experiences as a novice climber and great adventures that my DH took me on. Of course, now those boots would probably not make it up Mt. Benson they're so pooched.

Kerfs are basically notches cut into the wood. In this case they're used to make chiseling out the excess wood easier.

With a chisel and rusty old hammer, I knock off all the excess wood from the loom. See how the kerfs are make this an easy and simply job.

Loom's basic shape is finally taken form.

Here I am working with a block plane to shape the edges of the paddle blades. Instead of having it clamped down onto the workbench, I opted to work the paddle freely in my hands. The yellow foamy protects the end of the paddle and also helps provide some friction as I work the plane. By working it in my hands, I can rotate and whittle away with ease.

Here's my view. All that wood on the side with scribbles over it needs to come off.

It's starting to look like a paddle!

A bit more planing and the beveled shaping of the blades is starting to take form. Mind you there's still lots of planing and sanding down before I can take this baby out for a ride!

Here's the mess I made: bags and bags of shavings. These cedar shavings will find a new home either sewn into little sachets for moth repellent cedar pockets or as tinder for a good friend's wood stove.

In case you wondering, I have managed to squeeze in some knitting in, mostly charity knitting.
Here's my wonderful DH showing off one of my EZ inspired baby jackets.

My weaving and spinning guild is doing a charity knitting project and so I'm knitting up a bunch of EZ based baby things and socks. This one is based on EZ's Practically Seamless Baby Jacket from the Knitter's Almanac. Mine is completely seamless.
I opted to do EZ patterns as a way of commemorating the anniversary of her departure to the Great Big Yarn Stash in the Sky.
BTW, in the background of the above photo, to the right of my handsome husband are a couple of our finished qayak paddles.

Have a great week everyone!
Jen

Nanaimo Guild Meeting

2007-11-06T12:20:00.000-08:00

Just a reminder to all the spinners and weavers in the Nanaimo region that the Mid-Island Weavers and Spinners Guild is meeting this Wednesday at 7:30pm at St. Paul's Anglican Church (100 Chapel). Come in by the side/back entrance, not the main church entrance. The door opens around 7pm.

We're always happy to have new folks come in and for those interested, membership is only $20/year and we meet the first Wednesday of the month.

The ladies of the guild are a warm and friendly bunch and have been a bounty of info for this newbie spinner.
For this meeting we're having a spinning workshop. Bring your spinning wheel or spindle, questions and problems. There's bound to be a spinning jedi in the guild that has the answer :)

See ya!
Jen

The Quest for Tolkien Yarn

2007-11-02T08:03:00.000-07:00

(Fjola, an Icelandic sheep we met on Saltspring Island. I have a pound of her gorgeous fleece just waiting to be spun)

The idea of spinning and knitting a Tolkien inspired garment has been playing in the back of my head for a few seasons. I did knit a Hobbit inspired jacket, Fiddlehead, last spring which has gotten much use.
Stansborough Farm, the New Zealand company that sourced the wool for the LoTR elven cloaks has made the same wool available for spinners, knitters and weavers. Though, I applaud them for taking the effort and energy in breeding such a special flock of sheep, the fleece is no more intrinsically elvish than many other breeds of sheep. The Stansborough yarn itself is a blend of the 80% wool and 20% angora.
I scoured the internet to see what other knitters thought about this yarn. A bit hearty and rough for some, others had issues with the loose 4-ply, some just didn't think it anything much special other than it was used in the Lord of the Rings.
The Stansborough site touts this fleece as being 'the rarest in the world. True. There are only 1000 of these sheep that have been bred to make this particular shading of grey without any brown tips. The farm breeds and controls this flock. In other words, they have the monopoly in specific lineage of sheep. They're flock is simply intensively bred Gotland sheep which is originally from Sweden.
Gotland (also known as Palssau) sheep are direct descendants of the Gute breed and also include Shetland, Icelandic, Finnsheep and Romanov (some of which also have very 'elvish'qualities). It also believed that Karakuls, Romanov, Leicester and Rya may be lurking in the genetic history of the modern Gotland.
The fleece itself is prized for it's high lustre, well-defined crimp, soft but hardwearing. It staple ranges from 3-5 inches. The fleece colours ranges from almost black to a full range of greys to silver. There is no true white Gotland.
There are Gotland sheep farms throughout North America and Europe. Just Google 'Gotland sheep farms' if you want to find a farm near you. I bet you it'll cost way less than shipping it from New Zealand.
Now that I've bored you to tears with babbling about Gotland fleece, I'll admit that I'm not going to use much if any Gotland fleece in my Tolkien yarn.
Ptthhbbbbbbbb :P
(Newly shorn fleece from a Saltspring Island sheep farm. So fresh it still has a pulse.)

(Streaker Sheep)

Why would I look specifically for Gotland when I have Shetland, Icelandic, Cottswold, Border Leicester, Alpaca and Romeny being raised within spitting distance from me? All these breeds offer many of the elements that make an elvish cloak.

Tolkien described the elvish cloaks that were gifted to the fellowhip in Lord of the Rings as,"...of the light but warm silken stuff that Galadhrim wove. It was hard to say of what colour they were: grey with the hue of twilight under the trees they seemed to be; and yet if they moved, or set in another light, they were green as shadowed leaves, or brown as fallow fields by night, dusk silver as water under the stars....Leaf and branch, water and stone: they have the hue and beauty of all these things under twilight of Lorien that we love; for we put the thought of all that we love into all that we make...they are light to wear, and warm enough or cool enough at need."

-p481, Lord of the Rings, Farwell to Lórien

There is another source of inspiration for my Tolkien elvish yarn from the great stories of The Silmarillion and The Children of Hurin : Thingol the High King of the Sindar. For crying out loud, his name is derived from ancient words meaning "Grey Cloak". What a perfect source of inspiration for my elvish yarn!

Dark Elves, or as most LoTR fans would know them as, Grey Elves, are the highest of the Elven kind. The term 'Grey' also is suggested to have a second meaning related to 'Twilight"

Thingol is also the great- great-great-great grandpappy of Arwen and Aragorn. Yep, much like most royal families, this one skinny dips in it's own gene pool. They're not directly related, more half second cousins twice removed or something like that.

The Grey Elves themselves are noted for wearing dark robes of purple and blue of twilight.
I can't remember off the top of my head much about Thingol's wardrobe. I guess I'm going to have to reread the Children of Hurin :)
(Pretty pair of Border Leicesters. Their fleece has a lustrous sheen and long staple. Definitely elvish yarn worthy.)

The basic fleece qualities I'm shooting for is:
-sheen/lustre
-good drape
-hard wearing

I'll have to do a bit more musing and scheming to decide how I will capture the chameleon nature of the elvish cape's colouring.

So far, I have some gorgeous Icelandic, Cottswold, Alpaca and Border Leicester fleece to blend and play with. All of them from the Vancouver Island and Gulf Islands.

Tolkien himself was a great supporter and lover of the land and the people who worked it. The Hobbits themselves are a great example of this.
Tolkien's concern for nature echoes throughout The Lord of the Rings. Much is made of how those of greed, arrogance, lust for power, and filled with evil dominate nature and abuse it to bolster their own agenda. Whereas elves live in harmony with the natural environment and many of their races of named to reflect nature, like the Woodland Elves.
I cannot think of a better way to pay homage to Tolkien, support local farmers and still do my part to help the environment than to make a Elven cape with locally raised fleeces.

I'll be continually blogging about this quest and I would enthusiastically encourage other Tolkien and LoTR fans to also look into using locally raised fibres to make their Tolkien inspired projects.

Jen

Alpaca Island

2007-10-23T16:41:00.000-07:00

Hello to all the wonderful fibre enthusiasts that I met at the Farmer's Showcase this past weekend! Welcome to my blog.
Just a reminder to Nanaimo weavers, spinners and knitters that I met, there is a meeting for the Mid-Island Weavers and Spinners Guild on the first Wednesday every month at 7:30pm (many of us show up earlier to hang out and spin or knit.) Meetings are held at St. Paul's Anglican Church at 100 Chapel Street in downtown Nanaimo. Come in through the side/back entrance, not the church's main entrance. The next meeting is November 7th. Hope to see some new faces there!
I finally got invited into Ravelry last week. My Ravelry name is AlphaMango. Hello to all Ravelry members!
It's been a busy month but I've still had time to enjoy my 100 mile fibre journey. During the Gabriola Island Thanksgiving Art Tour, my friend and I made a not-so-quick detour to Paradise Island Alpaca farm. The alpacas and chickens are raised organically and free range. The farm also has a small retail store on the premises where you can buy yarn and finished objects. Inside is also a production space where the local youth can be found processing, spinning and weaving. The farm also supports a Peruvian women's alpaca co-op.
Taylor, the farm mistress, is happy to sell roving and whole fleeces at super-reasonable prices. They also carry yarns for Crimpy Critters, another Gabriola Island alpaca farm.

Visit the alpacas and Dave & Taylor Turrie at 785 North Road Gabriola Island, BC.

While doing our art tour rounds, we had to stop by Trish Moon at Indigo Moon studio. My friend ended up buying a backseat's worth of local fleece from her. While there, Trish and I hashed out a deal where I'd knit up samples in exchange for yarn. Trish has released a huge line of wool yarns, along with her usual treasure trove of silk yarns. I've been busy working away at the swatches since she needs them for the holiday craft fair season which is already started in some corners of this island. Here's my first sample swatches of here solid sock yarn.

It's superwashed fingering weight merino yarnand the colours are even more vibrant than the photo shows. As you can tell, they're not so much a plain solid as much as a 'shades of solid'. I used this yarn in 'Olive' for my Carved Jade Socks.
I've just started up a sample swatch for the variegated yarns and I'll post those photos once I get some mileage on them.

As I mentioned, I've been crazy busy for these last few weeks but there's always time to knit & spin.
Right now, I've got a capelet for my little sis on the needles. It's a local alpaca roving that I got in the spring. I spun it into a laceweight yarn. It's my first 100 mile alpaca project where I spin & knit! So excited about it.

My sis has her heart set on a off-centred capelet. She likes things simple and elegant so I'm going with a simple wave pattern for the main body of the capelet. In the back, I've got a pair'o leaves lace pattern going up the spine for a touch of drama.

For those times when my brain is too fried for lace knitting, I've been spinning up yarn for DH's Gaston socks:

I just finished spinning the yarn for them last night. I have about 400 yards of the cream Romney and 500 yards dark brown Romney spun to fingering weight. I bought the Romney fleece from Elaine Duncan at the Weaver's Rose Garden. She sells at the Errington Farmer's Market every weekend. The fleeces were from her own flock and she sells in many levels of processing, from whole unwashed fleeces to roving to yarn and even finished garments. I paid $8/lb for washed fleece. The sock yarn only used up a handful of ounces of fleece making these the cheapest pair of socks I've ever made :)

Have a fabulous week!

Fire & Ice: The Final Chapter (Updated below)

2007-09-17T08:57:00.000-07:00

Fire & Ice is finally done!
Yippee! Pass the red wine!
It's been a wonderful summer of scheming 'n dreaming, dyeing 'n spinning and, of course, knitting and more knitting. Between all the knitting was a fair bit of frogging.

She's finally done and I lurve her.
For those interested in the back story and the journey to this point, check out these entries.
For those that just want to look at knitting porn, I present to you the Fire & Ice final photo shoot!

Da sleeves. Initially it was going to be a basic steek and seam sleeve. Then I thought since I was knitting to fit my torso, I might as well knit the fit my shoulder as well. So I opted for short rows to create a bend to fit around my shoulder and then a few extra short rows to add some material for the side of the collar. It took a couple of evolutions to get the sleeves right but in the end it worked out grand!

Da forearm. Since the cabling was inspired by designs on Viking armour, I wanted to bring some of the warrior elements of their often violent sagas into the sweater. I created a sort of knitted wrist plates to echo armour.
The sweater as a whole was designed to look structured and sculpted. I wanted it to look solid, like it could hold it's shape even when I'm not wearing it, like armor.
Here's the torso and the two sleeves before seaming.

Here's it all put together!
Da front!

Close-up of da back.
The collar was done in a simple seed stitch to give a bit of texture. I opted for a square collar to echo the angular nature of the cabling.
As an extra bonus, the collar also frames my 'Tao' tattoo perfectly. So fitting to have that word framed by a sweater that carries the story of the joining of fire & ice to create the world.

My triquetra tattoo is also peeking out in the corner. The triple goddesses, (especially Morrígan) are definitely with me when I'm wearing this sweater!

Well, that's my 100 mile fiber project for the summer. Not a moment too soon. The evenings are getting chilly and I'm ready to get going on my next 100 mile fiber project!

Cheers!

ETA:The Inside Story of Fire & Ice

This photo is for you, Erin :P
Hop onto a ferry and get over here for your short row lesson!

Thanks everybody for all your warm and wonderful comments. It makes my heart melt to hear all these encouraging comments. To all those that can't fathom making such a sweater, I would like to point out that I haven't used any techniques that most intermediate knitters don't know.
In fact, here's a list of the main techniques used and links to some:
Knit
Purl
Long tail cast on
2x2 ribbing
Knitting in the round
Cabling (without a cable needle)
Stranding
Stockinette
Short Rows
Basketweave stitch
Seed stitch
3 needle bind off
Increase
Decrease

Even if you don't know the above techniques, you've already learned the 2 main techniques: knitting & purling. Some might say those are the most difficult of all knitting techniques because they are the first. They are the initial steps into a new world, one that is unfamiliar and often, awkward to navigate through. They are taken without any prior experience that this path will lead to anywhere but to a knarled up headache. They are taken with no promise of reward. Often they are accompanied with anxiety, confusion, insecurity and frustration.
But soon those steps become so familiar, many of us can tread the steps of knitting & purling without looking and constantly checking a map.

In my knitted heart I do hope to nudge, shove, kick other knitters into uncharted (pardon the pun) knitting waters and to inspire them to try things that aren't written down in patterns. If nobody tried new techniques or experimented we'd all be knitting big blocky garter stitch togas :P

I do hope my knitting encourages other knitters to join me off the beaten path. I would very much enjoy their company :) There's a vast and exciting knitting landscape for us to explore. With the learning of each new lesson, we all come back to the original blessing of when we first learned how to turn a couple of sticks and some string into something, anything and everything.

Be daring. Heck, be downright reckless with your knitting. Nobody died from knitting. Some might have been had their corneas seared by neon orange acrylic yarn, but that heals eventually.

In The Yarn Harlot's "At Knit's End" there is a quote from Henry Ford, "One of the greatest discoveries a (wo)man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn't do."

And as the Yarn Harlot says herself: Be Fearless with Knitting!

Icy sleeves for Fire & Ice

2007-08-29T12:09:00.000-07:00

What? The end of August already? There're mooncakes being sold at Fairway and it's getting dark way too soon. Yikes!

I've decided to put off starting anything new until I've finished the Fire & Ice sweater. I've given myself the much the spring and all of summer to dye, spin and knit this sweater.

I've just finished spinning and knitting one sleeve:

The bottom half of it is in basketweave.

I love the diagonal woven effect. This stitch constricts since it's got a whole line of crossovers on every other row. With this in mind, I opened up the stitches to a stockinette right below my elbow. This allows the sleeve be fitted for my forearm an then to widen up for my elbow and upper arms without having to increase a single stitch! I'm not sure if that makes me smart or lazy. Probably a little bit of both :P

I decided to stick with just the ice colourway since I didn't want the sleeves to compete with the cabling on the body.
Here's the body up to near the armpit. It's going to be a yoke sweater. For once, I'm knitting a yoke from the bottom up. I did it this way partly because I wasn't sure how the cabling would fit on the sweater. But mostly I did it because I was undecided what kinda collar/neckline I wanted to use. I'm still undecided. I guess the yarn will tell me once I get to that point.

Close up of the cables:

Sleeves and sweater body together:

Last night I began spinning up the yarn for the second sleeve. Hopefully the sleeve will be spun and knitted up by the end of the week. However, I've got a pretty packed schedule and anyways, I still haven't figured out what sort of collar I'm going to use.

Happy knitting!
Jen

Socks for a unrequited summer

2007-08-25T08:52:00.000-07:00

My Carved Jade Socks are finally done. I made the final push through the final few inches last night with the help of a glass of red wine and lots of good, dark, organic chocolate. The knitting juice was definitely needed to get through the home stretch. Not a glass too soon. I woke up to another soggy, grey Saturday morning.

Why, dear summer must you be so mean and cold? Why must you nip at my tomato plants. I've offered you a garden full of edible sunshine. I've waxed poetic about your long weeks of sexy heat. I've sacrificed a day timer of weekends to frolic with you. And this? This is how you return my love? With cold, miserable rain and then slaps of unbearable heat?

Was it something I said? Are you still upset because I told winter that I loved her best? I had to. Did you see the torrents of rain she was sending over this way? Did you see her tightrope walking just above the freezing mark? Tempting me with peekaboo glimpses of good ice-climbing weather? I thought we were over this. You're no better than spring :P

So now I have a new pair of Carved Jade socks to see me through the end of this stoneyhearted season. For more background info on the socks, check out this earlier entry
Here's the photo montage of my new socks. Enjoy!

The requisite front view

The requisite back view.

Requisite bird's eye view

Requisite art shot.

Shhhh. It's the elusive Carved Jade toothless shark.

Carved Jade Socks

2007-08-24T16:00:00.000-07:00

At the Saltspring Island Natural Fibre Fair, I picked up a few gems, including a couple of skeins of sock yarn from Indigo Moon. Trish Moon, dyeing diva, has just begun offering a line of hand-dyed superwash fingering sock yarn. Like the rest of her products, many are dyed with natural dyes.

Most striped or variegated sock yarn aren't my cup of tea. I find them a tad too funky and, well, too stripey (I know, that's probably not a real word). However, Trish's colourways are right up my alley. I fell madly in love with this as soon as I saw it.
It was labeled "Olive" but it reminded me of the gorgeous, subtle colours of unworked jade.

At under $13 a pop, I picked up 2 skeins and happily let my imagination whiz about with ideas. I finally decided on a pair of 'Carved Jade Socks'

The socks are inspired by the incredible carved jade pieces I saw during my China trip last year.
Jade Disc inside the Forbidden City in Beijing, China.

Carved Dragon Ball. These pieces are moving spheres carved within each other. It's just mindboggling what goes into making a piece like this.

Carved Jade piece. This is one of my favorite jade pieces that I got to see. It's so delicate and intricate.

With those pieces in mind, I unvented a simple stitch pattern that combined twisted stitches and a basic lace movement to create the effect of jade carvings. I say unvented because chances are, it's a stitch pattern that has been unvented already.

Here's one sock done and waiting for a mate. It's a basic toe-up pattern with a Turkish Cast on, basic increased toe and short row heel.

I guess it got tired of waiting all by itself and climbed onto my foot:)

Here's the second one on the needles and slowly getting worked up. My dance card has been busy this past week and the Fire & Ice sweater has been monopolizing my attention lately. However, I'm set on finishing this by tonight. However, it is gorgeous and sunny outside and I'm already thinking mojitos on the patio.
Odds are 3-1 that I get it done by tonight.
Any takers?

Jen

Moebius Cape Pattern

2007-07-27T08:50:00.000-07:00

This is meant to be a general bare bones pattern. You supply the knitty gritty flesh :)

Yarn: Indigo Moon Wild Silk Yarn, Fleece Artist Italian silk or any silk or lace yarn.
Yardage: Heck, I don't know. A 300-400 yards. More if you want to sweep up the dust bunnies while you walk :p
Needles: 4 mm 47" circular (or longer) I used Addi Turbos
Gauge: It's a freaking Moebius lace cape, whatever gauge you get is the right one.

As you can probably tell, I’m not a diligent pattern follower. It’s a good thing that lace blocks so well :)

WARNING: Knitting rambling below. For those that are Moebius knitting experts or want to live life dangerously, please pop straight down the Moebius Blossom Cape Pattern)

This project is an opportunity to try out a new lace stitch pattern or to show off a much-loved stitch pattern. It’s also a great project for beginners because even the simpliest lace patterns look great. In fact, I’d suggest that you stick with simplier patterns with 4-8 row repeats. The number of total stitches is dependent on the lace pattern you choose. In the first portion, I also incorporated a row of short-rowed waves. For the sake of saving a few brain cells, the number of stitches for the base of this short-rowed pattern is the same as the number of stitches of your lace pattern.

So for me that number was 14. I casted on 217 stitches. My total number of stitches was 434 (see below). I repeated the lace and short row pattern 31 times for each cycle.

Begin by casting on with Moebius Cast On - I used Cat Bordhi's Moebius cast on. Here's written instructions from a episode of Knitty Gritty that she did. It’s pretty much the same motion as a provisional cast on but with a looped circular needle. The motion makes the yarn bob and weave figure 8’s around your right needle and the coiled cable below. It was absurdly frustrating to figure it out the first time and that third glass of red wine didn't help either! But once I got the hang of it, it was easy peasy!

More Moebius ramblings for beginners:
Now, keep in mind that each stitch that you cast on is actually 2 stitches, one on your right hand needle that is fed from the top cable and a matching stitch on the bottom cable (it'll make sense once you actually do it) . So 200 stitches actually is 400 stitches in total. Take into consideration the stitch pattern you mainly want to use and choose a multiple of that which is closest to 200. If you're a loose knitter, cast on less, a tight knitter, get a drink and loosen up :P

Before you begin knitting, throw on a stitch marker to mark your starting point.
This method has you knitting from the centre of the shawl out, so there is no beginning edge. You will be knitting on both sides of a coiled circular needle (the reason why you want a longer needle). You will knit one coil around and when you reach back what you think is the beginning but the marker is on the other coil, you're only halfway and you still have to knit the other (bottom) half.
The end result is that when you knit a whole row round from the beginning marker and around both coils and back to the beginning marker so it's sitting on your left needle again, you've actually knitted 2 rows of knitting. But it will be noted in the pattern as one row of knitting. Is that as clear as mohair mud? For more ( & infinitely better) details, check out Cat's book from your friendly neighbourhood library.

Make sure that the cable only crosses at one point after you’ve done casting on!

So the outline of the shawl is as follows:

1- Moebius cast on with Colour A and knit for 10 or so rows in total

2- Colour B for another 10 or so rows.

3- Mark of ½ of stitches and start short rows back and forth to form the back.

4- For each pattern cycle decrease by one pattern repeat on each end.

5-Continue until it’s long enough for ya.

6- Reintroduce Colour A for a few rows.

7- Cast off with both yarns.

Here’s the fleshed out Moebius Blossom Cape Pattern:

1-With Colour A, Moebius cast on 217 stitches and knit 5 rows

2- Make waves by short rowing in 14 stitch grouping as follows. K14. Turn work and P13. Turn work and K12. Turn work and P11. Turn work and K10. Turn work and P9. Turn work and K8. Turn work and P7. Turn work and K6. Turn work and P5. (I didn’t bother wrapping stitches at the end of each turn. It’s lace, it’s supposed to have holes)

3-Turn work back to RS and knit to marker.

4- Repeat Step 2 & 3 for the rest of the row (until the beginning marker shows back up on your left hand needle.)

5- Replace Colour A with Colour B. I used the Russian Join method. Begin lace pattern. I chose Barbara Walker’s 'Little Parachute' from Charted Knitting Designs. It’s a 14 stitch pattern of 6 rows.

Colour A in the centre and here I'm just beginning the lace pattern in Colour B. See how the coiled cable loops through both the top and bottom of the knitting and only crosses once.

6- Knit until the Colour B portions are each the same width as the Colour A portion.

7- Mark off 210 stitches (about one half of total stitches)

8- Continue lace pattern in the marked off portion. At end of marked off portion, turn work and work the WS. Keep in mind that before you were knitting in the round so all your knitting was always facing RS. Now you’re knitting in the flat so you might want to adjust your pattern to WS knitting for every other row. Instead of blowing a brain fuse, I simply added a row of purl for all my WS rows and continued with Row 2 of the pattern in the next RS row. This worked fine for the Little Parachutes pattern since the added row didn’t interrupt the pattern too much and it looked like I had two stitch patterns, making me looking smarter than I am.

9- At the end of each pattern cycle, decrease the number of pattern repeats by 1 at each end for the next cycle. So I started with 15 pattern repeats, then 13, then 11, then 9 and so on.

10- Continue until it’s long enough for you.

11- Reintroduce Colour A but leave Colour B on. I just left Colour B hanging off my work and loosely looped Colour A in the stitch below. Afterwards, I wove in the end of Colour A in my knitting.

12 –With Colour A knit one row. When you come to the short-rowed back portion, the end of each pattern cycle will be a little step/gap between pattern repeats. Pick up stitches along the edge. I picked up 6 stitches for each ‘step’.

13- Colour A - K2tog, YO for the next row.

14- Knit your favorite edging (I used Fan and Feather) in Colour A for 4 rows.

15- With both Colours A & B bind off loosely.

Close up. Here you can see the short-row waves in the lighter yarn (Colour A). I really like how the a couple rows of Colour A at the end helps bring out the shape of the edge.

The back. I'm only 5'4" so anything too big will just swallow me up. I aimed for the bottom edge on the back to hit me near my waist which is how I decided how long it was going to be.

Well, I hope this is helpful to you all. I'd appreciate any feedback you have on the pattern and the end product if you try it. I'm not a very experienced pattern writer (as you can tell) and that's compounded by the fact that I'm not a very good pattern follower. I left out the stitch by stitch details of the stitch patterns on purpose. I would like to encourage others to use their own intuition, imagination and improvisation to fill in the knitty gritty details and start knitting beyond the pattern.

Happy Knitting!
Jen

Moebius Blossom Cape & Flying Carpet Yarn

2007-07-24T14:01:00.001-07:00

I'm just recovering from the Saltspring Island Natural Fiber Festival this past weekend. It was an amazing event with a range of exhibits, vendors and events. There were demos and silent auctions and lots and lots of fibre folk.

I managed the finish up my Moebius cape, which I've named the Blossom Cape, just in time for the festival. The dark purple yarn is hand-dyed wild silk from Trish Moon at Indigo Moon Silks on Gabriola Island. Trish had a stand at the festival and I just had to pick up a few skeins of hand-dyed sock yarn from her. Many of her yarns are naturally dyed and she offers an incredible range of colours and yarn types.
The purple silk is gorgeous and my pictures don't do it justice. The colour isn't as flat as in the photos. There's actually a beautiful, organic shifting and shimmering of different shades of deep purple.
The variegated yarn is leftover yarn from my Winged Series of shawls. I believe it was a Fleece Artist yarn.
I had wanted another warm weather shawl but, as mentioned before, I'm not very good open shawls and the whole shawl pin deal. Also, I don't like having a big, hunking knot tying the ends together. I wanted something of a certain size that would give me enough range of motion and a good dose of drama. Really, why bother making a shawl that doesn't have drama???
So my answer to this conundrum was a shaped Moebius that would mimic the silhouette of a cape without needing to be knotted in the front or pinned. I knitted up a the basic Moebius strip until it was several inches wide (or long, I guess, depending on how your measure a Moebius. Then I short-rowed half of length which would give me extra length in the back and sides. I decreased one pattern repeat on each side for every cycle of the short row.
In the end the bottom half of the moebius actually is a flattened semi-circle. Is that as clear as mud?
I did this mainly because I wanted a longer/wider shawl but didn't want a lot of material twisted up in the center. I wanted something that would flow nicely and drape at all angles. The short-rowing provided all these elements nicely.

ETA - I got a bunch of requests for a pattern for this piece. So I'm working on a Fast & Dirty pattern for the Moebius Blossom Cape.
The festival also held a Fibre to Fashion competition. There were two teams of 5 that had to card, spin and weave a shawl within 6 hours!
It was so much fun!

Here's the spinners going. You can practically see the smoke coming out of those wheels!

My partner in crime and I left Saltspring in a blissful, fluffy daze. We were probably one of the few that actually didn't mind the grey damp weather that has blanketed the Rusty Coast. We were looking forward to spinning all night long.
I practiced some pretty hard-core restraint with my festival purchases but there were a few things that I couldn't resist including some spray painted pencil roving of Blue Face Leicester and silk from Hummingbird Fibre Arts. I couldn't walk away from the display. I just kept circling it, drooling over the roving and all the smashing colours.
I got to spin some up yesterday. Here it is:

I was aiming for a fingerling yarn and came pretty close. The colours came up even more beautiful than I anticipated. Doesn't it look like flying carpet colours? Rich and intense and so full of possibilities.

Have a great week everybody!

Jen

Fleece up to my yin yang

2007-07-03T09:56:00.001-07:00

I've been dying and spinning yarn for my Fire & Ice sweater every spare moment I've got. Though June's soggy and cool weather has put a damper on my mountain and ocean playtime, it has been perfect spinning weather. The west coast has been pounded with a couple of good late spring thunderstorms.

My dining room has been turned into a fleece factory. Instead of curtains, I have fleece hanging up to dry and the dining room table has been converted into a carding table/fleece 'painting palette'.

I've done most of the dying . I've got my Ice fleece:

and my Fire Fleece:

As my first big dying and spinning project, I'm using this sweater as an opportunity to learn and experiment with various dying and carding methods. I'm aiming for a navajo plied sport weight yarn but right now I'm just thrilled that it's spinning up relatively evenly.
Here's some batts that have gone through various carding techniques. I have about 3 basic shades of blue and some purple for the Ice colourway. For the Fire, I'm working with 2 shades of yellow, orange and a red.

By varying how I feed my drum carder, the number of times I card it and how I layer the fleece, I'm slowly learning that there is a plethora of ways to create different colourways.
Here's some of the yarn I've spun up so far:

Here's a couple of swatches of some pattern's I'm working on for the sweater. I was inspired by the patterns in Eslebeth Lavold's 'Viking Patterns for Knitting'. I wanted to a viking knot that was a tad more elongated and angular than the ones shown in the book so I took a couple basic knot ideas from that book, threw them together, added a pinch of this and that, gave it a twist and this is what I got:
They're looking a tad Elvish which is a good thing in my book. I did a basic outline of what I wanted onto graph paper and then penciled in the exact stitch pattern as I knitted it up. Once I'm done, I have a graph and a complete swatch to remind me of what I'm shooting for. Also this serves as my swatch and give me an idea of how the yarn will knit up like and how the colours will play against each other. From here, I've adjusted and fine tuned my carding and spinning to suit my tastes.

I'm really liking how the two colourways are playing against each other. I think I'm going to stick with the Ice colour as the background and the Fire for the cabling simply because I look better with cool colours next to my skin.

I know it seems like a lot of work to do up the swatches. I've learned that when I'm working out an original pattern with a few spicy techniques, it's worthwhile to do up a swatch and notate the stitches as I knit them, instead of drawing up a graph completely and knitting from there. I know there are knitting designers that can just draw up stuff onto a graph that looks just like what they want it be knitted up. They are the knitting equivalent of Beethoven composing the 9th Symphony when he was completely deaf, IMHO, and I bow down to them. This knitting monkey isn't quite there yet. I'd rather frog a swatch than half a sweater.

Technically, this is not cabling because both the cables and the background are all done in stockinette in 2 seperate yarns. So it's twist stitches with a few cable needle moves. I found in an earlier swatch that a purl background when using 2 yarns doesn't provide the same receding affect that occurs when using only 1 yarn. Stockinette provides the a nice basic background and as a bonus, it makes it super easy to knit up in the round. Though the end product looks complicated, the actually knitting is nothing more than stranding with a few twist stitches and the odd cabling move when it's done in the round.

To keep me from being completely obsessed with the Fire & Ice sweater, I've started a mobieus shawl with hand-dyed wild silk from Trish Moon at Moon Woven Studios.
Maybe I'll have it done in time for the Saltspring Island Natural Fibre Festival later on this month.

It's my no-brainer project for now though it being silk and a lace pattern, it has a 2 glasses of wine limit before it's in danger of turning into a rat's nest.

Have a great week!

Victoria Knit-Out

2007-06-07T09:31:00.001-07:00

Just a reminder that Victoria's Fibre Fest and Knit Out is THIS WEEKEND!

There's going to be fashion show, galleries, workshops, market, yarn crawl and Canada's knitting darling, Stephanie McPhee (aka. Yarn Harlot).

I'm waiting for my latest dyeing project to dry so I can card & spin it. Until then I've fallen back to the dark side. Yes, I've started knitting socks again.

It's for DH who has admittedly been very patiently waiting for me to knit him socks. Up until now, I've only made him a toque (I know, I'm a horrible knitting wife). I've been selfishly holding back on knitting him socks because I know the deep, dark secret of sock knitting. Once you knit someone socks they become addicted to handknit socks and constantly nag you for more. And they keep nagging you with little care of your other knitting projects. All sock knitters know this. They often don't warn novice sock knitters about this but sit back and smirk as novice sock knitters naively start knitting socks for their loved ones. They may even snicker a bit, knowing that their watching the beginning of a vicious cycle.

I had to move, twice, to get away from all my handknit sock addicted loved ones. Now I've started knitting socks for my ultimate love.

This will be a definite test of our marriage.

Jen

The First Evolution of Fire & Ice

2007-06-05T12:47:00.001-07:00

It was only a matter of time that my Scandinavian Fire & Ice sweater was going to evolve from a simple Scandinavian pattern cardigan knitted in the round to something absurdly complicated.

Initially, the Fire and Ice them was to be represented by Fire and Ice inspired colourways. The patterning was to be a simple 8 row Scandinavian pattern. All of it knitting in the round with a yoke finish and minimal seaming. I was planning to steek open the front but that was about as complicated as it was going to get.

Now, I've changed my mind about the Ice colourway. I've opted for a more sky blue than teal base for my cool colours. Which means I've been dyeing even more fleece. Don't worry, I'm still madly in love with the first ice colours, just not for this project. There are a few other knitters that I've already put dibs on some of the yarn for their own projects. Here's some of the teal colourway that has already been promised a home:

I've also decided to scratch the whole simple repeated pattern idea and opt for a mix of colour stranding and cables based on traditional Viking knots. Though to keep my sanity (as little as I have left) I've decided to not carry the multiple colours throughout but the keep it quarantined in one area. Not quite sure which area.

(Fire 100 mile fleece)

I have a couple different ideas. I could do a grand viking knot cable up the back with a 2 colour smaller version of the same cable for a border along the front seams. Or I could do the big grand cable in the back with the 2 colours. There's also the thought of doing the whole darn body in 2 colour cabling. Of course, most of these ideas don't translate well to knitting in the round. I've considered learning how to knitting backwards but I have enough trouble knitting forward that the thought barely registers before getting the boot.

(A whole couch of my new ice 100 mile fleece)

Oh yeah, and I've been thinking about knitting up flames along the sleeves. Big fiery flames because I'm a knitting fool.
Here's some of the designs I've been working on.

Between dyeing, carding, spinning, designing, knitting up samples, I won't have time to pull out my hair or curse the fiber goddess for filling my little head with such grand schemes.

Jen

A spring flood of inspiration

2007-05-23T12:32:00.000-07:00

I've been dyeing and spinning up a storm. Spring has already offered a flood of inspiration. This past long weekend we escaped into the North Cascade mountains. Though we didn't get much climbing done, we had ample opportunity to explore one of our favorite places in the world and to take explore. This world of alpine colours and texture offer an inspiring palette for the little manic dyer and spinner in me to play with.

From wildflowers to the magnolia tree across the street, from lively meadows to breathtaking mountains, from fire to ice, they have all hijacked my imagination. Here's some photos of things that have inspired my first bout of dyeing and spinning mania:

Here is the wool I've dyed so far. All the wool is from local farms and include alpaca, Lincoln, Romeny and Hampshire sheeps wool. Most of it was washed, some of it in rovings and only the Lincoln was unwashed. I'm thrilled that I'm well on my way to producing 100 mile garments. An extra bonus is that I'll finally have yarn that suits my needs. Over the years I've lamented the lack of certain colours because they weren't in fashion or that the colourways changed too quickly leaving a choppy, variegated effect which is fine if that's what you want. However, I prefer a slower change of colours and a blending of one colour into the next.

I have three projects in mind that I've dyeing and spinning for. One is a Scandinavian sweater. If I'm going to knit up another Scandiavian sweater, I might as well go old school for inspiration. I've decided to do a sweater inspired by the Norse origin myth where the beginning of life was fire and ice, with the existence of only two worlds: Muspelheim (fire) and Niflheim (ice). Seracs, glaciers and the mountains were an obvious inspiration for the ice colourway. I'm attempting to replicate the colouring of a wood fire for the fire yarn. The sun is another muse for the fire component. I'm still drawing up the pattern but in the meanwhile, there's plenty of wool that needs to be carded and spun.

My second project is a blossom sweater. A simply pullover with a petal-like assymetrical collar. More like a lily or magnolia petal. The colours will draw from all the wonderful blooms of springtime. The pattern has been going through a number of evolutions.

My third project is a forest/moss project. Perhaps a cape or a heavy shawl. This one is but murmurs of ideas in the back of my mind.

The time spend dyeing, carding and spinning the yarn offers an oppurtunity for me to meditate and deliberate over my projects. It's definitely given me space and time to let my ideas grow and evolve.

So many ideas and so little time. I'm going to change my initial goal of using local fleece for half of my projects. I can definitely turn to locally raised fibers for a majority of my knitting. I've even gotten a couple of folks interested in buying some yarn from me! So exciting!

Gotta get going. That wool isn't going to spin itself ;P

Jen

Nananimo's 100 Mile Diet Challenge

I'm a proud spinning momma!

2007-05-03T08:42:00.000-07:00

Ta-dah! My first handspun yarn!

Ok. I know it’s a tad overtwisted and the ply is not consistent and it’s probably got a million other things wrong with it that will have be cringing when I look back at this moment but right now I’m thrilled that it doesn’t look like something the cat dragged in.

I picked up the roving at Duncan Fibre Swap last summer, back when I was just driving a drop spindle and the idea of owning a spinning wheel was but a wooly dream. Now that I have my Ashford, I’m spinning anything I can get my hands on.

I first practiced on a couple bundles of country roving to get my feet and hands coordinated and to simply get some mileage under my belt before got into the good stuff.

With my mountain of locally raised fleece and roving to play with, My goal is to spin and knit a 100 mile fiber for at least ½ of my pieces, if not more. With my own wheel, drum carder and guild filled with experts, I don’t think I’ll have any problems meeting that goal.

If you’re looking to get some locally raised fleece/roving/yarn head down to the Qualicum Fibre Sale this Saturday. 10am to 2pm at the Rotary House (corner of Beach and Fern) in Qualicum Beach.

In June is the Victoria Knitting Guild is hosting their Annual Fiber Fest & Knit Out. There’re workshops, fashion show, gala dinner and Stephanie McPhee (aka. The Yarn Harlot) will be making an appearance. Of course, there will be lots and lots of fibre and fibre paraphernalia on sale.

For those that are looking for already spun local yarn, Nanaimo's LYS, Mad About Ewe has brought in some gorgeous locally raised alpaca yarn and hand-dyed wool and silk from Indigo Moon Studio on Gabriola Island.

Gotta go, there's a mountain of Alpaca roving that's calling my name ;)

Enjoy!
Jen Lam

Nanaimo 100 Mile Diet Challenge

Upcoming Fiber Events

2007-04-25T13:14:00.000-07:00

The Qualicum Weavers and Spinners Guild is having a Sale and tea on May 5 from 10am to 3pm. There will be spinning and weaving demos and lots of local fiber to be had. Free admission. It's being help at the Rotary House in Qualicum Beach at the corner of Beach and Fern.

In July, Salt Spring Island will be hosting the hugely popular Natural Fiber Festival. It's a grand multi-day affair with workshops, fashion shows, demos and competitions. For more info check out their website.

Here's my latest fiber creation:

For a more detailed account and more photos, check out my personal blog.

After finishing this piece, my brain is a tad fried. I've got a no-brain WIP and some experimenting to do. I'll keep you posting.

Cheers!

Jen Lam

Nanaimo's 100 Mile Diet Challenge

Somewhere there is a pack of naked baby alpacas...

2007-03-26T12:56:00.000-07:00

...because I have a mountain of baby alpaca wool in my living room!

I’m still recovering from this Saturday’s Nanaimo Fibre Swap and Sale. Despite a mix-up with the newspaper listing and some very wet and dreary weather, the fiber event was a huge success. I was there early to help set-up and I swear the place was packed with eager fiber shoppers a good half an hour before the actual start time. It was steady for most of the 4 hour event! From equipment to books to fleece to yarn to finished textiles, there was something for everyone.

Hello to everyone that stopped by the 100 Mile Diet & Fiber table. It was a wonderful morning and afternoon and I got to meet folks from all the Vancouver Island.

As expected, there was a plethora of local fiber producers selling their lovely wares. I made a pact with myself that I would only buy local fleece. Considering that there were some absurdly good deals on yarn at some of the tables, I’m amazed at my own willpower;)

I have a grand old plan to see a 100 Mile Fiber project through from carding to spinning to knitting on my own buy the end of this spring. I couldn’t have asked for more at this fair. There were vendors from all over the Vancouver Island and Gulf Island region. There was an incredible range of local fibers and considering how affordable the raw material was compared to buying it at the store, I couldn’t resist. Despite the big pile of treasures that I managed to acquire, my wallet actually was still quite healthy and full afterwards (thanks goodness!).

Even before the starting bell is rung...

Local alpaca...so soft...sigh

I got 14oz of unwashed Lincoln fleece for a buck!!!

Washed Romney - a big old box for $5!!!

4 lbs Hampshire washed for $10.

I figure once I manage to card and spin this batch, I'll be a decent spinner. Knock on wood.

I also picked up a drum carder for $25!! Considering that even used drum carders can usually cost a couple hundred dollars, I was practically doing cartwheels down the aisle. At the end of the day, one of the vendors gave me a pair of used hard carders. I will try not to brag too much of my good luck for it may taunt the knitting gods to smite me with carpal tunnel syndrome or to curse my stitch markers to move about when I’m not looking. I’ll just go into my corner and do a little happy dance.

I was very much tempted to pick up a loom for a song and dance. Until I manage to figure out how to fold space or at least get one of those Narnia wardrobes, I'm going to have to hold off on it. I don't have any room for it considering that any spare space is now being taken by a growing stash of fleece which barely fits beside my overstuffed stash of yarn.

I’m not the only one that got a great deal in equipment A friend of mine also picked up a swift for $15 and bobbin winder for even less. These fiber fairs are a great place to pick up equipment for the novice. I also love the idea of reusing and passing on equipment so it doesn’t end up in the landfill.

I got to wear my Arachne capelet that day. I would get a photo of me in it but there’s never anyone to take photos of me when I’m wearing my stuff. Why is that?

Anyways, I love it. It’s made with local alpaca (chocolate brown and teal). The gold is wild silk dyed by Gabriola weaving goddess, Trish Moon. I adore alpaca. I was stroking my capelet all day long. A few others joined in the tactile pleasure too ;)

The all-over design is my own. The patterns I used was classic paired falling leave for the bottom teal border. The chocolate lace was intended to look like the leaves of wolfbane/aconite, the plant that Athena used to turn Arachne into a spider. They are variations upon Barbara Walker's smocked lace.

The Arachne spider is also Barbara Walkers'. (Hey, you might as well borrow from the jedi). It the Spider pattern in Charted Knitting Designs. I just used 2 yarns to make the pattern 'pop' and made some minor changes to make it fit better in the overall design. It’s a nice project for someone who’s looking for a bit of twist stitch fun!

BTW, Trish Moon’s naturally dyed yarns are now available at Nanaimo’s favorite LYS, Mad About Ewe. They also brought in some gorgeous local alpaca yarn from Qualicum Beach.

I look forward to hearing about the your locally grown creations and seeing those photos! Send them to Fiberfest@hotmail.com

Jen

Welcome!

2007-03-20T09:22:00.001-07:00

Welcome to the 100 Mile Fiber Fest blog.

Inspired by the 100 Mile Diet, I’ve been looking for other local products to utilize to help support the local community & economy and to help the environment by cutting down on transport miles and about a gzillion other reasons. Becoming more of a 100 mile knitter was a no-brainer. I’m blessed to live in thriving local fiber and texile community that is surrounded by alpaca and sheep farms. There are also many local yarn producers that make a mélange of hand-dyed yarn, many of which are also naturally dyed. I also have access to stinging nettle and cedar bark and other plant materials for fiber. I’ve even seen folks use dried bull kelp to make baskets.

I’ve done a few pieces in the past utilizing local fibers but now I’m making a more conscious effort to use local fibers more consistently. I get most of my local alpaca and sheeps wool from fiber swaps, fairs and from the farms themselves.

The 100 Mile Fiber Fest blog is dedicated to showcasing the wonderful creations folks are making with fibers grown or raised within a 100 miles of where they live. It’s open to any sort of creative vehicle including spinning, weaving, knitting, crocheting, felting, basketry and whatever else you can make with naturally grown fibers. Just send an email with an account of your wonderful 100 mile fiber creation, some info like where you are from, what sort of fibers you used, where you got your fiber and any tips and techniques you’d like to share. Photos in JPEG form can also be sent within the body of the email (no attachments please) and please keep them to a reasonable size. You can send in your 100 Mile Fiber account to Fiberfest@hotmail.com

You can also join me on my own 100 mile fiber journey as I explore the landscape of fiber that is available on Vancouver Island.

My most recent 100 Mile Fiber knitting creation was inspired by a visit with Ovid’s Metamorphoses this past weekend. I had come across one of my favorite myths, the showdown between Athena and Arachne. I know that most interpreters paint Arachne as a boastful, brash young woman who needed to be brought down a notch for bragging that she was a better weaver than Athena. In my eyes, however, Arachne is a proud, strong minded and self-confident young woman who worked hard at becoming the best weaver she could be, though she could have benefited from a bit of humility. She did not shirk from her talents or play the modest maiden like women back then (and even to this day) were told to do. She dared to challenge the goddess Athena to a weaving contest and she beat the disguised Athena fair and square. Unfortunately, Athena was a sore loser. When Arachne realized that she had disrespected the goddess, her shame led to her suicide.

I was inspired to make an Arachne lace capelet. In the myth, Athena sprinkles the juices of aconite, or Wolfbane onto the Arachne to loosen her suicide’s loose and turn her into a spider. Wolfbane shows up often in mythology and folklore as having special powers, often deadly powers. So I tried figured I’d use leaves and florals as the background pattern for the capelet. I tried to recreate the leave of the Wolfbane in lace but I won’t know if it works until I block it. I’m using locally raised alpaca yarn that I purchased at a fiber fair and some at a farmers market last year. I’m also going to knit up Arachne in gold handspun wild silk yarn that I purchased from Trish Moon at Indigo Moon Studio on Gabriola Island. I’m using a modified version of Barbara Walker’s Arachne pattern for that.

So far I have this much done:

I’m hoping it will be done so I can wear it for the Nanaimo Fiber Swap and Sale, which is being hosted by my Weavers and Spinners guild. The Fiber Swap is being held on Saturday, March 24th from 10am to 2pm at St. Paul’s Church Hall at 100 Chapel Street in downtown Nanaimo. There will be a wide variety of local fiber, fleece, yarn and equipment. The guild is also selling baked goodies and lunch there.

Along with being one of the hostesses for this event, I’m also going to be running the 100 Mile Diet & Fiber table. Pop by and say ‘Hello’.

Send in your emails of your 100 Mile Fiber creations.

Have a great day!

Queen of Rust