Under the weather, a little...

 Life has taken a bit of a turn. I had a total knee replacement last Monday. My neighbor came to visit today. He saw my walker and thought it was pretty cool, but he thought it needed some sheep on it. I agreed! This is how it turned out. I am proud to take it anywhere. The little red bag is my sister, Sara's idea. I needed a way to make sure I always had my phone within reach. She inspired me to create a little phone bag to attach to my walker. I can easily remove it and hang it around my neck if needed. Great little idea!



While Sara stayed with me for a few days after surgery (THANK YOU, SARA) she found time to
help my neighbor learn to knit. I just happened to have a spare set of needles left over from the Beginning Knitting class I taught in February.  I also had this ball of camo yarn that Nathen thought was really nice. He was a serious student and learned in no time!

I have also realized that I will be unable to spin any yarn for a while as I need to keep my leg elevated Sara brought a book with her that I had not seen before. 

It is the newest One Skein Wonder Book 'Lace One-skein Wonders', edited by Judith Durant and published in 2013 by Storey Publishing. I fell in love with the book and ordered myself a copy. It arrived today. It is full of beautiful, small, Lacey fun projects. I think many of these will be

Perfect to showcase Arachne Handspun yarns. I have decided to knit up some things to sell at the next sale I go to. I think Arachne will be presenting some Lace Knitting classes in the not to distant future...watch the Arachne Yarns Facebook page for announcements!

First Dyeing of the Season!

Spring is upon us. We have had some 60 degree days. I usually don't do much dyeing in the winter, simply because the wool is inconvenient to dry in the house; so when the warmer temps hit, I got anxious! I went to the freezer and pulled out my saved avocado pits and skins. I have a good supply of onion skins, thanks to Bonnie's Hometown Grocery where they save them for me. I had some skeined yarn spun up and some roving from the same fleece. I decided it would be fun to make a skein each of the onion and avocado. I put half the remaining roving in each of the pots. I thought I could blend this and spin it together to go with the other two skeins.

I started by putting pits and skins from the avocados in water in one pot and boiled that for about one hour. I filled another pot half full of onion skins and added water to cover by about four inches. I boiled them for about an hour also. I let the pots steep over night.

Later that day I mordanted the wool with a 10% alum solution. I cooked that for about 45 minutes just under a boil. I cooled the wool in the pot and washed it well after to remove any extra mordant.

The next morning I strained the dye into new pots. I put the wet, mordanted yarn in in the pots and slowly brought each to a simmer for 45 minutes. Then I let each pot steep over night.

The third day, I removed and rinsed the wool and hung it in the bathroom shower to dry...so much for warm weather. It is back into the 40's and feels too cool to dry the wool outside.

This is the result. Onion skins on the left, avocado on the right. Now that I see them together I have decided that I will probably not use just these two colors. I think some wool dyed with withies or dandelion would work in well and maybe aome marigold for green. Back to the freezer!

I will let you know what happens next....

Needle Felting Class

Today was Needle Felting class. The table is set and waiting for the class to start! Five people signed up for this class. The class was needle felting bunnies for Easter, but two participants wanted desperately to make gnomes....so we did that, too.

Lots of wool, needles, colored wool and beads, ribbons, and threads for decorating!

Soon the fun started. There were a few pricked fingers, no band aides required. Some people were shy, so no faces, but I can assure you, everyone was laughing as our bunnies took form.

Here are the new bunnies! 

And, don't forget the gnomes! 

Thanks to all who were here! It was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon!

On The Hook....Crocodile Stitch Slippers

I received this photo in an email from a friend. She thought they were really cute. I took one look and decided I had to have a pair! First I didn't see the big pair and figured I would have to create an adult size pattern. Then I went to Ravelry.com and there it was! If you are not familiar with Ravelry, you should definitely check it out! They have more knitting and crochet patterns than any other site I know of. There are lots of forums, groups, and tons of information on the site. I can usually manage to find most any pattern there.


This is the pattern that I found. It is not a free pattern, but the cost is minimal. The pattern is well written. As soon as I can decide which yarn to use I plan to start these. They look really warm and cozy, as well as being just plain fun.

                       Text and images Copyright ©2012 by Bonita Patterns & Lianka Azulay, 

Now it is time to settle in. A Blizzard is in the forcast for tomorrow. I plan to finish my 'Polar Vortex    Hat' and start on my slippers!

Keeping Busy!

February has been a very busy month! Lots of classes including Beginning Knitting and Fair Isle Knitting.










Soon Arachne Yarns and More will be hosting its first Knit Along! It is aimed at beginning knitters who are able to knit and purl but want to move on from pot holders and scarves! We will be making a sleeveless vest using the stockinette and garter stitches.

The pattern calls for making the fronts and back separately so we will learn some construction. Also, increasing, decreasing and gauge will be discussed. I found the pattern on Ravelry.com. It was published by Patons. The name of the pattern is "Button Front Crew Neck Vest". I think it will make a great first project for my knitters. It is a nice looking vest that can be made in several sizes. The stitches are basic and there are several new skill to be learned.





Also in March, we will be hosting a class on needle felting bunnies just in time for Easter!

Last week at my weekly knitting group I brought supplies and we all needle felted eggs. Everyone took their eggs home and decorated them. We brought them back this week to compare. It is amazing how many different kinds of decorating was done. Several people embroidered their eggs. Some incorporated beds and other goodies. One was done with more fleeting and had felted flowers on it. It was a little diversion from our knitting. Everyone seemed to have fun.

I have also been busy making hats to send all over the country with all the cold weather! Now, my friends will have warm ears! Other projects include blending some wool and spinning some fun yarns and weaving a bit.

On Weaving...

Well, I am off on another excellent adventure! This time I am weaving. I have been struggling with the idea of warping my floor loom, an 8 harness affair. It is going to take a lot of time and a lot of space in my living room. But I have really had a hankering to weave. I have a lot of small amounts of yarn left over from spinning skeins for sale. I thought weaving would be a great way to clean off the spinning bobbins and use up some yarn pieces either too small to sell or not suitable for knitting.


This weaving is done on a 12 dent reed. I am using a wool warp yarn that I purchased. The weft is made up of a lot of bobbin ends. For the part visible in the photo below I took all my bobbins with small amounts of singles and plied it with a natural white wool. I really like how it is turning out.

Other sections of the weaving are done with a solid mottled green, and different shades of natural Alpaca and wool in Browns and greys.

The loom I am using is a Schacht Flip Loom. It is a great loom. This particular one has a twenty inch weaving width. I figured anything larger I can do on the floor loom. This loom is set up for a second reed, giving it a lot of versatility. Another feature I really like is that it can be 'flipped' or folded with the warp and or weaving on it for easy storage or travel. There is also a floor stand available and a travel bag!

While I have been weaving on this project I have been busy designing future project with yarn I have in my stash. I also have reorganized my wool room in my head and redone my yarn storage to,better accommodate planning weaving projects. Now, if only I could figure out how to accomplish those things while weaving this...

Busy Saterday

I had a wonderful day! It started with an open house at Calvins Goat Milk Products. That is where I bought the emu eggs pictured above. It is located near Chokio, MN. Kathy Krier, the woman behind the magic, uses the eggs to create art. She had some for sale. I bought one. Then I decided that if I was going to use them to set in my living room I should have more. Of course, you can't set out two, so I bought three! I am not as brave as Kathy, so I don't plan to carve them. Kathy explained that emu eggs have a seven layer shell. They start a beautiful Jade color. Each successive layer is lighter than the previous layer until the inside layer is white. A good carver can use that in creating something special.

Kathy also makes a large selection of goat milk soaps and lotions. They are beautifully scented and wonderful to use. I bought a Lavender Forest lotion, a Winter Scent bath bomb, a Mullberry Moss soap and for my husband, I bought a beer soap! Her sons, Calvin and Collin, were busy treating visitors to Bath Bomb Foot Soaks! The 'bombs' were as much fun to watch as they were relaxing to experience!

Kathy also raises alpacas and emus. She processes her alpaca by hand at the farm and spins it. She had yarn and finished items for sale as well.

There was a great turn out for her open house. She had gone to a lot of work to set it up and it showed. Lots of interesting people were there to visit with as well. It was a fun morning and everyone had a great time.

I got home a little past noon and got busy setting up for the Fair Isle knitting class that I was hosting that started at 1pm. The class will meet for 4 Saterdays. We are knitting cowls with an original pattern. Everyone did well today!

Keeping Busy

Arachne Yarns and More is gearing up for the first two classes of the year! There are two new knitting classes starting on January 17. Knitting 101 is for beginners. We will focus on casting on, knitting, purling, and binding off. The Fair Isle Knitting class is for the more experienced knitters. I finally finished the pattern, charts and hand outs for the Fair Isle class. We will be making a really pretty cowl. The pattern will be posted after the class is completed. All the supplies are here and waiting.

There are some exciting events coming up. First, on Wed, the 14 there is a breakfast scheduled at the Inadvertent Cafe in Clinton, MN. It is a gathering of fiber people, producers, processers, and artists in Big Stone County. Sort of a farm to market group. It will be wonderful to meet with all these people in one place. There is a wealth of product and knowledge here and it is finally coming together! I am so excited to be part of it.

There is a Roc Day celebration tomorrow, Jan. 10, in Groton, SD. It will be fun to see all the things people are working on. I love to check out the different types of wheels nd spinning techniques. I come away from this type of event totally recharged and full of new ideas! Roads are not nice, but I am going anyway! I think it is really important to keep in touch with people involved in the same craft. It helps keep the creative juices flowing.

Roc Day is an old tradition. Roc Day, or  Distaff Day, is actually January 7. It is the day after the feast of the Epiphany when the men and women returned to work. It is named after the rock or distaff used by the women in there spinning.

 

Meanwhile, here, the weather is typical January. Temps are often below zero. Wind chills are in the 20-30 below, and the snow is either falling or blowing. The highways are treacherous. I am thankful that I have a warm house, a warm dog, a spinning wheel and a house full of roving! I will never be idle or bored! Better still, when the spring thaw comes, I will have a whole bunch of beautiful yarn to play with! There is always a silver lining...you just need to find it. Hope you find yours!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! I greeted the new year quietly, non-alcoholically, sitting by the light of the Christmas tree and reviewing what was good last year and what could be better. All in all, it was a good year. Arachne Yarns did well. Lots of sales, new people, new directions and new products.

This time of the year, I try to reflect on the old and decide what I want to focus on for the coming year. For myself, I plan to explore my spirituality more deeply. To celebrate the new year I bought myself several new books to use as guides in that endeavore. There is a wonder to this life. I feel that all things are connected. Perhaps this is where creativity is born. It seems that exploring those connections opens my mind to new, creative ideas.

Plans for Arachne Yarns includes more classes. I have two knitting classes scheduled for January and February. I plan to do a needle felting class in March. This summer I am working on natural dyeing classes including finding the dyestuffs. Lots of people have asked about this and I think it will be lots of fun! Watch the Arachne Yarns Facebook page for class details an sign-up information.

                                                                  Happy New Year!