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?

Scouring Day

A couple of days ago, the University of Florida dispersed their flock of Gulf Coast Native Sheep (GCNI). Fortunately, a few farms got the word, and purchased them. These sheep are "heritage" sheep. Brought to this continent by the Spanish in the 1700's and let go wild, the breed became acclimatized to the Southeast. These sheep are famous for their resistance to parasites, pleasant diposition, and conformation. It's fortunate that the farms who picked up the UF flock are passionate about preserving the breed. One of these days, we would like to care for a small flock. Until then, I'll be working with Gulf Coast fleece from farms down the road apiece.

I haven't spun any sock weight GCNI yet. So, I dug through the studio, and there - AH! A box of Adelina (cream colored) from Running Moon Farm. AND a bit of Amber (wonderful dark grey/brown). Dirty. Ready to jump in the tub. And here we have a day with no rain. 100 degrees. Higher in the sun. Alrighty!

So, I grabbed enough of Adelina for a couple pairs of socks. Here's a picture of unscoured (dirty) fleece:



This washed up GREAT! Now, I have 8 1/2 ounces of lovely creamy fluff. Margrett from Running Moon Farm confirms that her husband loves his Gulf Coast socks. So...now, to dye or not to dye? This is clean Adelina:



Back to the dirty fleece...I had that bag of Amber all over the bed, and up jumped Artie to check out the doin's. At first, she wanted nothing to do with the stuff, but then...then she got a whiff. Here's a pic of my 13 year old Artie with her new mom, Amber:



And just for comparison...here's some dirty Border Leicester. This is my standard sock making wool. But, not this week. It's a longwool breed, nice gloss, silky but spins up with a nice halo. I made a pair of Baudelaires au naturel last year. I've never received as many compliments as I do when I wear those socks.



Tonight, what's it gonna be? Carding and spinning? Or knitting with some "storebought" yarn? Hm. We shall see.