les bon temps keep roulezing along

Lawdy. (long whistle). Time is hard to come by. Drove some 2000 miles this last week. Pulling a cargo trailer full of my husband's big machines. Didn't get a lot of knitting in, though the smitty sox are purt near complet.

Here, though...


tropical s u n r i s e

Isn't that pretty? It's a skein of spindlespun. Got rained out today, so I spun a couple skeins of longwool. I don't know the breed. The orange (dyed with coreopsis) was in a bag of rovings that I'd dyed this summer. The yellow and red flecks are border leicester locks (goldenrod and pokeberry respectively.) Yummy stuff. 90 yd in 1 1/4oz.

And look...


nake d

Here's a wonderful lofty natural yarn. Airy and soft. 115 yd in 1 1/2 oz. Spindle spun. I might spin up a lot of this.

No, I have had time, but Ravelry is sucking it up. Those of you who have been there beta testing know that it will eat your brain. What a great concept! Designers, Yarnies, Knitters and Crocheters all uploading their projects, their stashes, their designs, and their yarns. Cross referencing galore. I am a Yarnie...a yarn designer. Nice to have a place I can declare my yarns for sale without being offensive. Like on so many online knitters lists. The Ravelry Groups are lovely, too. It's great to have visibility into the folks you've "known" on the fiber lists...and literally see what they are doing.

The whole thing has reinspired me to put my etsy store to better use. So, Dove's Roost is being stocked as we speak.

All spare time is devoted to food. Daring Bakers has taken me in. I am floured and sugared and in the company of many fabulous bakers from all over the world. We wait patiently for the first of the month, when a recipe is posted, a challenging - use all your skill and every bit of your artistry - baking assignment. The DBers make the same recipe the same way and post their work on the same day. It's all secret as can be, so you can't just check out the blog. Oh nosiree. If you want in, you have to do some homework.

So, between waiting for the buds to open on the Brandywines and the Rosa Biancas, and measuring Jimmy Nardello's Sweets on a daily basis, between cooking amazing pastries and sauces and spinning lofty yarns, I'm reading The Book Thief and designing a knitting project for this book. What are you up to?

schaefer anne o t n

elongated corded rib in schaefer anne

Just started. No elongated corded ribs yet...just 2x2 cuff ribbing. However...I'd like to report that this handpainted yarn is marvy. 60% merino wool superwash, 25% mohair, 15% nylon; 560 yds/4 oz. Schaefer Anne is sold in a big fat hank. It's just impossible for me to figure out what a yarn will look like until I make a pull ball and start to knit.

Soooooo, I was a little bit surprised when this yarn showed itself to make a simple striped pattern. The shades of rust and peach and brown, indigo and slate...are so wonderfully subtle, I imagined that the pattern would be a little more freeform. Then again, this seems to have been painted on a small warp board. When I paint a hank, I spread it out over a greater length...still end up with stripes of a fashion, but much less defined.

I'll be using a Sensational Knitted Socks "idear" (thank you Charlene Schurch) - a 4 stitch rib, in this case, the elongated corded rib, an 8 row repeat. The sample I knit featured nice definition, and good openwork when stretched. Cast on was 144 stitches (to equal 72 st after k2 k2 p2 p2 first row - I really like a stretchy cuff) using size 1 dpns.

20 grams of handspun shetland

gansey sock in progress

This is how far 20g of handspun singles goes. After getting this far, I spun another spindlefull of shetland...yep, another 20 grams. That should take me well into the second sock. Once the leg is knit, the foot flies...only two skinny cables and some seed stitch to think about. I can tell that these are going to be favorite cold weather gig socks.

Handspun Shetland Gansey Sock

I love gansey

This is the current sock pattern for the Six Sox KAL - I Love Gansey. I'm using my handspun singles - Shetland wool (roving) I won in last year's Tour de Fleece.

I love the softnesss and the economy of this yarn. The little ball shown was only 20g, and I'm into the heel! With quite a bit of yarn to spare! I can tell that these are going to be comfort socks. Mmmm.

Pattern: I Love Gansey - Six Sox K A L Aug/Sept 2007
Yarn: Dove's Roost Handspun Shetland Singles - natural silver grey
Needles: susan bates silvalume dpns size 1 (2.25mm)

Embossed Leaves Complete

embossed leaves

Here they are. I just can't get a good picture. Regia bamboo picks up the light, bounces it around, and just doesn't want to be photogenic. In person, you have to trust me, these socks are lovely. And Mona Schmidt's pattern shows. Yummily so.

These were the perfect socks for late night bleary eyed knitting. Easy pattern. Easy to work with fiber. What can I say about the pattern? It seems made for me. I love a 64 stitch pattern. I had my doubts about the toe, but you know, it's neat and easy. I'm a kitchenerer. I admit it. I like grafting. My father taught me to graft when I was about 5. I just don't know why people are intimidated. It's E A S Y. And so is this toe. And this toe fits like a...like a...glove? Nah...like a sock.

Tiger Monkeys

tiger monkeys

Cookie A writes a mean pattern, doesn't she? These socks practically knit themselves. Now, this yarn, ahem...here's the deal. I was shopping for sock yarn, handpainted stuff, handspun stuff, and I ran into a neat site - littleknits. Well, there was a sale goin on...and this yarn, skacel "Trampoline - stretch" was $3.50 a ball. What the heck, right? It's wool/nylon and a little bit of polyester. I looked at it and thought, "O well. I got a deal, that's for sure."

Well, I tell ya, this is some of the most pleasant knitting I've done in awhile. The yarn is totally stretchy and bouncy, but for me...a loose knitter, it's just GREAT. The tiger design of the yarn doesn't make the Monkey pattern pop, but, when stretched over a foot, the design is definitely cool.

Pattern: "Monkey" - by Cookie A (knitty - Winter '06)
Yarn: Skacel "Trampoline - Stretch" in Tiger
Needles: susan bates silvalume "0" (2mm)
Mood: giddy

Puncheon Floor

Sheep. Fleece. Combs and cards. Needles - alright, pointy sticks. And socks. And sweaters. Light dancing across a naturally dyed skein. Fabrics knitted of twisted wooly fibers. That's what this blog is all about.

The heat of summer is stifling. A/C, however, is making the summer doldrums tolerable. Projects that were neglected in the late spring, when the windows were still open, letting warm humid air fill our space, are being picked up again. Those skeins of wool, of sock yarn, especially, bought in those "can-not possibly spin" days, are smiling up at me every time I walk through the studio. I'm joining KAL's. On top of designing my own socks and yarns. It's time to get knitting, and spinning, again.

This coming Saturday, Miss Pat from down the road apiece, is coming to a potluck at a local CSA, and bringing 6 fleeces - Gulf Coast Natives at that. I'm up to my ears in fleece, around here. So, I will, with all the self-control I can muster, be petting and passing up the temptation. I'll be giving a spinning lesson to the hostess, who won one of my spindles at a chili cookoff a couple weeks ago.

Yarns are what I spin. And I use natural dyes, from my gardens, from my fields, to dip and paint them. Socks, are my favorite little things to make. It's an odd day that I buy "other peoples' yarns." But, a month or so ago, I went el-kabong and bought a sweet little assortment. They are really wonderful. What an understatement.



Schaefer - Anne in two unbelievable colorways. I want to eat these, for Pete's sake. When I saw these obese skeins, I thought...ooooh, enough for husband socks. Now, though...oh man...my selfish side wants 'em both for me.



And this pile of delicious stuff! Clockwise, from left: Dove's Roost Border Leicester with Merino slubs in a Chocolate Chip dyed with sumac, skacel Trampoline Stretch in Tiger, Dove's Roost Border Leicester 2-ply in Cantaloupe from annatto seeds (not as pale as the photo), and a fat singles dyed a warm Gold with onion skins, and finally OnLine Sierra - a forest green, cocoa, and grey yarn. Not all socks, but darn yummy!



Here it's Henry's Attic merino space dyed with KA and a soft blue acid dye, and more Dove's Roost, navajo plied corriedale.



Finally, lookit lookit lookit! This is over the top, don't you think? Fleece Artist merino in Rainforest. Too gorgeous for its own good.

So, that's it. First post. Baseline. Bottom line. Tip of the iceberg. Solid footing. Welcome to the puncheon floor.