What's Happening..?

i just finished up the sale at the St. Lawrence Church in Milbank, SD. I met a lot of interesting people there and at the other sales I have been at. I love demonstrating and talking about spinning and dyeing with people who want to learn about it. This is unfortunately my last sale of the season, due to medical issues. I have been teaching some classes and will continue with those for now.

I taught a class in October on knitting in the round on two circular needles. Each participant received two sets of needles, 150 yards of wool yarn and a pattern I designed especially for the class. The only requirement was basic knitting, cast on, bind off, knit and purl. We learned how to cast on with two circulars, how to manage the yarn and the stitches, how to increase for a thumb gusset (we made fingerless mitts). Everyone enjoyed the class and several report they have finished both mitts!

A couple weeks ago, I taught a class on needle felting.
It is my latest passion. Everyone received a set of felting
needles, felt pad, and wool to play with. We felted
Christmas Gnomes. It was a lot of fun. I am planning
to do this class again in December.



I have taught myself to knit socke two at a time on a magic loop, using a very long cable needle. I am currently working on a pair of toe-up alpaca socks. They take a bit longer, but surprise! They are both done at once! Finally, I may get two matching socks! I have lots of one-of-a-kind socks. I have a real problem getting the second sock knit! I can see where this would be an excellent way to knit mittens, socks, and sleeves and anything else that you want to match closely. You are knitting both at the same time. Same mood. Same tension. Same increases and decreases. And, best of all, when you are done with one, you are done with both!

I am planning several more classes this winter. Next spring and summer I will be teaching dyeing outside. I am hoping to do some extended classes. We can hunt and pick our dyestuff one day and dye the next. Lots of interest in those classes.

For now, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

Harvest Festival at the Big Stone Apple Ranch

This was the weekend of the Meander..the Upper Minnesota River Art Crawl. There are over 45 different artist studios to visit from Beardsley to Granite Falls, MN. In past years I have traveled the countryside for three days taking in as many studios as I can. This year, I stayed in one place, the Big Stone Apple Ranch for the Harvest Festival. It was a new experience for me as a vendor.  The Apple Ranch is located 15 miles north of Ortonville, MN. It is set on the shores of Big Stone Lake.

The the Harvest Festival ran both Saturday and Sunday. There was lots of good food and fun. Live music and face painting added to the festive atmosphere. The Apple Ranch grows several varieties of apples, including Honey Crisp, Fireside, Cortland, Haroldson, and others. They also have fresh pressed cider, pies, jams, jellies, and a lot more. There were lots of goodies to eat, including a lunch wagon. Other vendors were selling home made cookies, pies and donuts. Mmmmm! There was lots of fresh produce, and lots of other items for sale.

 
Logan Johnson of Chasin' Alpacas was on hand from Rosholt, SD. He brought along a few of his friends. The kids (and adults...) had fun watching and feeding the alpaca. Logan had sells alpaca yarns as well as rovings. The yarns were beautiful. The rovings had my name all over them...

I am explaining to my friend, Nancy, just how lovely theses alpaca rovings are...demonstrating the wonderful softeness. I can't resist. One of the joys of working (did I say working...I should have said 'playing') with fiber is feeling the fiber...

I had a lot of yarn on hand and some finished items for sale. It is always fun to talk to all the people who come to the booth. Many people have never seen a spinning wheel or seen anyone spinning before. I love talking about my craft. I also like to let others take the wheel. Men and children are the most interested in trying it out. This young lady was the best new spinner on this particular day. I was amazed at how quickly she picked it up. She was a natural!

She tells me there is a spinning wheel in her grandmother's attic. I hope she gets it working. I gave her my number if she wants any help getting started.

The weekend was a success. Lots of people came to the Ranch to look around and buy things. I was invited to demonstrate at a craft sale on November 1st at the Ortonville Community Center. Sounds like fun. Check out my facebook page (Arachne Yarns and More) for a complete schedule of up coming events.

Dye Results

I was busy yesterday dyeing some yarn. I had some new things to dye with and was curious as to what the results would be. This is a photo of the results. Furthest left is Marigolds. Next is a mushroom called Dryad's Saddle (Polyporous Squamosus) over-dyed with Sumac. The lightest yarn is Dryad's Saddle alone. The one on the right was dyed with just Sumac. All the yarn was pre-mordanted in 8% alum. The Marigold had an iron after bath.

I had some Marigolds in my freezer that I had been collecting over the summer. I collected the flower heads, including the calyx. The Marigolds were the mid-sized plants with 3" orange flowers. I put the frozen flower heads in a dye pot and covered them with water. I boiled them for about 45 minutes. I then let them steep until cool enough to work with and strained the liquid, added a bit more water to the pot to accommodate the wool so it could move freely. I brought the pot to a low simmer and held it there for about 45 minutes. As I periodically checked the dye bath and wool for color I noticed some green developing. I decided to try to enhance this by making an iron solution to add to an after bath. I created the iron solution be soaking some rusty nails in a container of 2:1 white vinegar and water. I added a small amount if this to the dye bath and let it cool. The color change was significant.

Add caption

Next, I strained the liquid from the Dryad's Saddle. This had been soaking for a number of days in water with 1/2 cup of ammonia added. It was a fairly dark liquid.

I was hoping for more color, but was not unhappy with the light ecru color I obtained.
(Third from the left above).

I then filled a pot  half full with sumac cones. The ones that I used were bright red and sticky.

I covered them with water and boiled this for an hour. I cooled the liquid and strained it through several layers of cheese cloth. I simmered some wool from the mushroom bath to overdue it. I also added freshly mordanted white wool. There was a difference in the depth of color between the over dyed yarn and the yarn dyed in just sumac. (Second and fourth from the left above).

All in all, I am happy with the results that I got. I will definitely use these again for dyeing.

Stashing

I have been unable to do much dyeing or spinning this summer because of my knee surgery, but that hasn't stopped me from 'stashing' for the winter! This is some of the fiber I have gathered. There is a bag of white and silver llama, a couple pounds of Merino, some rag wool, and also some silver-grey Shetland. I am getting so anxious to spin!

I have been steeping this mushroom in water and a bit of ammonia for about four days. The mushroom was given to me by a friend. It is about a foot across. It is called a 'Dryad's Saddle', or a Polyporous Squamosus (see previous post). A lot of color has developed in the liquid so I think it is time to try it out.

Today a friend, Linda, and I went foraging. We found some goldenrod. We also gathered a few ears of dried corn for the squirrels. We found some beautiful Sumac.

 We found about three bags full, careful not to take too many from any one place. Some of the reddest, stickiest ones I will save for 'tea'. The rest I will use for dyeing.  Add these new finds to what is already stashed in the freezer and I should be busy for a while! 

I have also been working on a pattern for some fingerless mitts that will be available soon in the My Patterns page of this website. 

It has been quite a summer. I had a total knee replacement the first of August. That has really put a damper on my activities! I have been learning how to walk and use my knee for the past four weeks. I thought I would be able to spin...I could treadle the wheel just fine, but I couldn't sit with my leg down for long. I spent the first week out of the hospital with my sister-in-law, Carolyn, and her husband and daughter. We were up in the Bemidji, Minnesota area. We made some short trips each day for exercise. One of these trips was to the Bemidji Woolen Mills. It was not what I was expecting. The only yarn they had for sale was Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride. Nice yarn, but I was hoping for something more unique. I understand the mill has been out of production for many years.

Another stop we made was to Northern Woolen Mills in Fosston, Minnesota. We talked with the owner, Stephenie Anderson. She gave us a short tour, due to my knee. It was interesting to see the mill. I also looked at some of her yarns and purchased some roving. It is so wonderful to have access to two woolen mills in driving distance. Northern Woolen Mills, in Fosston, Minnesota; Dakota Fiber Mill, Kindred, North Dakota (check it out on Facebook).

I also bought a llama fleece from a person I met while at a show in Battle Lake, Minnesota. I ended up with 2 1/2 pounds of beautiful roving, processed by Dakota Fiber Mill. I now have about six pounds of roving, some wool blend, Merino and Llama waiting for me to get my wheel out.

Yesterday, a friend stopped by and brought me a gift. She found this beautiful Polyporous Squamosus (also called Dryad's Saddle, pheasant back, or hawk's wing). This one is about a foot across and probably too old to be edible, but could be interesting in  the dye pot! I can't wait to 'cook it up' and see what happens! This was found on a stump from either Box Elder or Silver Maple. These can be found on living or dead hardwoods, mostly on the Eastern part of the country. We have had an extremely wet summer. There was a large amount of rain a few days before Linda found this. I am anxious to get out into the woods and see what else is out there. Should be a good mushrooming year!