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Saturday, July 27, 2013

Found it Friday!

On a Saturday!! whoops!! Best excuse ever though. We went to the fair yesterday! And the pool, and the sidewalk sale and by the time we came home and I did all the things I needed to do but didn't because I was busy having fun with the kids, I was exhausted and completely forgot what day it even was....

Image Credit: http://foulawool.co.uk/foula.htm

So today I bring something @LouisebScollay shared on twitter! Foula Wool!  Another breed of sheep found on the Island of Foula, near the Shetland Islands.  I love discovering the crazy range of breeds of this amazing creature.  I'd love to get my hands on some, though from the sounds of it, it only comes as yarn. That wouldn't be so bad, because I do knit. Think of the fair isle sweater I could make with these Natural colours!
Check out their Story :  http://foulawool.co.uk/foula.htm  They even have a contact form, and I might see if I can get some wool to spin.  If it's as fine as they say, I bet it would be a dream to spin!

~Kara

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Master Spinner Level 2 Final Project

So, I left you all hanging.  It's like a really juicy season finale and you had to wait far to long to find out  just what happened!  Suspense!  Mystery! Did she or didn't she? dun dun dunnnnnnnn.....

I frogged it.  I frogged that damn scarf. It was surprisingly satisfying. In a way.  And then that tiny little ball of yarn sat for a while, lonely and beckoning.  I started carding rolags from some lovely merino fleece from Natchwoolie to distract me from my lingering frustration.  And I spun up 2 of the 3 bobbins of the merino, but something stopped me from spinning the 3rd.... It was likely the date, the fact that Fibre Week was only 3 weeks away and my husband was about to go on a week long fishing trip.  Or the thought:  "You know, you went through all that effort on that shetland silk blend.  And you are pretty proud of it.  Just use it. Make that little scarf.  DO IT".
So I did. I used a crochet cast on as the provisional cast on. I knit twisted stitches, I yarned over, I purled and knit two together. I bound off to "top' part, picked up the provisional cast on with ease and bound that baby off.  I cut through my knitting at the appropriate place ( talk about scary! cutting my haandspun in the middle of a project!!) I blocked that scarf, and when it was dry I held it up and smilled.  The yarn I lovingly spun from junk wool and silk, knit and frogged, and knit again, held up sooooo well to that abused. So well. I was happy to turn it in as my final project.

And because this post is nothing without a picture....  TaDa! pretty scarf!
Untitled

It's been through the scrutiny of my wonderful teacher, and got a pretty good mark.  But the mark isn't the big thing with this one, in the end.  I'm proud of this dinky little scarf.  It's soft, it drapes nicely, it's light and airy. And I'll actually wear it. 

~Kara

Friday, July 19, 2013

Found It Friday

It's Friday.  Shall we start a new tradition? Every Friday I will find something interesting, perhaps and most often yarn related, inspiring, funny, neat or just plain cool and share it with you all!  Sound good?

This week, Spinning directly from the sheep.  Yeah. FROM THE SHEEP. DIRECTLY.  Check it out.



1- It's just plain neat.
2- It's cool that there are sheep that still carry that primitive trait to roo.
3- Wouldn't that be fun to do?

Til next time!

~Kara